Yesterday I saw Fine Totally Fine (Zenzen daijobu) at the Japan Cuts Film Festival in New York City.  Here is the synopsis that the Japan Cuts web site has:

By day, Teruo works at his family’s used bookstore--by night, he works on creating the world’s scariest haunted house. When pretty but clumsy Akari begins working at the shop, both Teruo and his friend vow to capture her heart. Silly, jealous rivalry ensues in this hilarious, offbeat comedy.

Fine Totally Fine is a very very funny movie.  There are so many silly gags and funny instances to make anyone smile or laugh out loud (like my audience was constantly doing) Some of the jokes are so obviously set up you can see them coming but the thing is, you can’t wait till it does and the payoff still makes you chuckle.  To actually summarize the plot of the movie is kind of difficult.  From what the synopsis says on the website, Teruo works at his family’s bookstore and wants to create the world’s scariest haunted house.  This is true but actually he also works doing some sort of landscaping (maybe for parks?) and the whole haunted house idea is quickly abandoned after a very funny “ghost” encounter.  Akari doesn’t begin to work at the bookstore until half way through the film.  She actually begins working at the hospital where Teruo’s fried Hisanobu is working at.  Clumsy hardly describes Akari’s character.  It’s like this girl is trying to do anything in an earthquake and you just love when she goofs up.  I really enjoyed how the filmmaker chose how to show how awkward she is.  Whenever Akari attempts to try something the camera is always on for that situation and who don’t get any quick cuts or edits.  You can really feel how frustrated she is but you can’t help but laugh at how much of a clutz she is too!  You’ll have a new appreciation for opening a box of tissues after the movie is over.  The fight between Teruo and Hisanobu also doesn’t happen till towards the end and is quickly resolved.

The only thing I can say bad about this movie is that it feels long.  The pacing is very slow and some of the side characters are written off a little to easily. 

Like I mentioned before, Fine Totally Fine is a very funny movie and even though it’s kind of long and feels slow, by the end you just want to see more with these great characters and hope that we can see more of their goofy antics even after the credits.