As the devoutly single Don (Murray) is dumped by his latest girlfriend, an anonymous pink letter arrives telling him that his 19-year-old son, whom he never knew about, may be looking for him. Don reluctantly draws up a list of potential mothers at the demand of Winston (Wright), his best friend and neighbour. Winston and Don live vicariously through one another, so its little surprise when Winston turns up on Don's doorstep with a complete itinerary to aid Don in finding out who sent the mysterious letter. So Don hesitantly sets out to look up a series of old flames as he reflects on his situation.

Despite the lashings of critical praise and awards nominations, I found Lost in Translation to be shallow and pretentious. Not a bad movie, but by no means the masterpiece that many hailed it to be. Broken Flowers is the movie that Lost in Translation should have been. It is in a similar vein thematically and stylistically, but it builds an extra dimension into its characters, loses the pretension and has a genuine sense of wit. Don's initial awkwardness is captured perfectly - to the point that you feel as nervous as Don every time he walks up to the doorway of an old flame. Bill Murray is as flawless as his Don is flawed and the supporting cast is near perfect.