It sometimes comes as a surprise to people when they learn that Takeshi Kitano is best known in Japan as a comedian. The man with the most deadpan expression ever is mainly known for his gangster movies, and for the sometimes shocking portrayal of violence they contain. I'm surprised that people are surprised though, because even his most hardboiled gangster movies contain a strain of deadpan absurdist humour that is at least as characteristic of his films as the violence. Maybe a lot of people simply miss the humour - Americans aren't best known for their appreciation of subtle comedy after all Watching GETTING ANY? it's hard to imagine anybody missing the fact it is a comedy though, as it is anything but subtle. Actually maybe that's not true - the humour is still often times subtle, but the movie as a whole is unmissably surreal and absurd.The premise is simple. A not too bright loser has but one thing on his mind - getting laid. He really hasn't got much of a clue how one goes about this, though, and the movie largely concerns his increasingly stupid schemes to get some. First on the list... get a car. Should be simple enough, right? Not for this guy His plans get more and more ludicrous as the movie progresses, and lead him into some ridiculous and sometimes hilarious situations.This is without a doubt the strangest movie Kitano has done, and it's as wild and inventive as any movie that springs to mind except maybe the odd Jeff Lau or Stephen Chiau film. The movie plays like a strung together sequence of sketches parodying numerous movies and cultural elements, rather like a Japanese Monty Python film. Like Monty Python, it's clear that there's a keen intelligence behind all the stupidity.The movie is not without flaws, unfortunately - chief of which is that it loses focus for a long time around the half way mark. Our hero gets himself into a couple of dire situations and for some time the whole purpose of his adventure (getting some) is forgotten. It's still funny and ridiculous, but dilutes the experience somewhat and drags on a little too long. It perhaps becomes a little too absurd for its own good in the second half, coming too close to simply being random.GETTING ANY? is a fairly lightweight contribution to Kitano's resume, but one so totally opposed to his unique style of film-making shown in films like SONATINE and HANA-BI that it simply had to be made. Kitano is far more than a one trick pony, even though it's mainly for one trick that he's known in the west. Unfortunately, GETTING ANY is probably altogether too strange to have widespread appeal in the US, and won't do much to broaden peoples' perception of him.

Not a bad film, but not a good one either. Kitano's usual crisp writing style is all together missing in this film which has a rather basic plot (a pathetic middle-aged man who's goal in life is to one day have sex in a car), but at the same time is mired by the off the wall misadventures of the main character Asao. In fact, Asao's adventures become so off the wall that by the end of the film, I completely lost track of how he wound up in his final state (or maybe by the end of the film I just didnt care anymore to think about it). What makes the off the wall plot even worse is the smattering of off the wall characters to go with it (like the pink nighty wearing Yakuza Boss, the old man who steals Asao's "bomb cake", and the dying Yakuza gangster who keeps popping up every so often to give Asao a helping hand).However, despite its shortcomings, the movie did have its moments. Kitano's scientist character was rather amusing, and it was a fresh change to see him playing a character that didnt shoot anyone in the face (its kinda like seeing Clint Eastwood in a comedy). Also the film did some pretty good lampooning on popular Japanese film genres (such as the Yakuza Film, and the Giant Monster Movie).In conclusion, Minna yatteruka was an o.k. comedy, but thats about it. It lacked the subtle humor found in Kitano's other films like Kikujiro which I found more enjoyable. Due to that, I would have to give this film a 6 and a word of advice to the film maker: There is such a thing as having too much "stool" in a movie.

This is a truly funny film that crosses all boundaries... despite not having English subtitles I was totally gripped by the insanity of the images on display, and Takeshi Kitano's brilliant deadpan performance. It's incredible how such a simplistic tale of a man stumbling from one bizarre situation to another, with little or no rhyme or reason, can be so laugh-out-loud funny.

This Takeshi Kitano movie is all over the map and suffers because of it. He tells a "full-out" comedy that tries to cram everything and the kitchen sink re: other Japanese movies. It starts out with Asao looking for sex and doing every weird thing in the world to try to get it but failing; And ends with him becoming the Flyman. There are funny moments when he is mistaken for a hitman and when he auditions as an actor; but many other moments are tedious. Nowhere as good as Kids Return( 9/10) or Fireworks. Overall, a 5 out of 10.