Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1998)

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Noted television screenwriter and founder of the acclaimed theatrical group Tokyo Sunshine Boys, Koki Mitani makes his directorial debut with this wickedly funny look at a live radio broadcast gone horribly wrong. As a part of a PR stunt, a Tokyo radio station holds an amateur screenwriting contest and the winner (and only contestant) is a meek and guileless housewife named Miyako (Kyoka Suzuki) who spun a sincere little melodrama about a marriage falling apart. At first, everything seems like a dream -- the show's high-strung producer Ushijima (Masahiko Nishimura) is calling Miyako by the honorific sensei and the cast and crew seem to radiate a cool, yet heartfelt, professionalism. Then calamity strikes. Prima donna actress Nokko (Keiko Toda) -- who is ticked off at the current state of her career -- decides moments before air time that her character Ritsuko should be named Mary Jane. Instead of being a modest housewife, Mary Jane is casually turned into a high-powered lawyer. Soon the other characters want to play glamorous foreigners too. The setting is switched from sleeping resort town Atami to Manhattan and then later Chicago. The romantic male goes from being a truck driver to a pilot and then an astronaut. As further plot changes continue to pile up -- ranging from gangster hits to dam breaks to moon landings -- Ushijima and director Kudo (Toshiaki Karasawa) try desperately to keep ahead of things while poor Miyako -- her dreams of being a screenwriter thoughtlessly trashed -- quietly seethes. This film was screened at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Toshiaki Karasawa, Kyoka Suzuki, (more)

Director(s):: Koki Mitani

Format(s):: DVD, (View All Versions)

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Synopsis of Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

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Theatrical Feature Running Time:: 103 mins

Complete Cast of Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

Toshiaki Karasawa - Kudo
Masahiko Nishimura - Ushijima
Takehiko Ono - Ben Noda
Yasukiyo Umeno - Furukawa
Yoshimasa Kondo - Miyako's Husband
Moro Morooka - Bucky
Toshiyuki Hosokawa - Hamamura Jo
Nobuko Miyamoto - Janitor woman

Kyoka Suzuki - Miyako Suzuki
Keiko Toda - Nokko Senbon
Shiro Namiki - Suguru Hosaka
Jun Inoue - Hiromitsu
Hiromasa Taguchi - Tatsumi
Akira Fuse - Horinouchi
Ken Watanabe - Truck Driver

Director(s):: Koki Mitani

Writer(s):: Koki Mitani

Producer(s):: Takashi Ishihara, Kanjiro Sakura, Hisao Masuda

Categories:: Comedy

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Member Reviews (3)

	Barb R.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

This is supposed to be a silly movie - and it did make me laugh. The "live" radio program's actors make ridiculous demands & program changes (during the program), just to prove they can each get their own way. I rented this to see what Ken Watanabe is like in an older movie (Katsumoto in The Last Samurai, & in the upcoming Batman) - his bit role here as a cowboy-hat wearing truck driver getting emotionally wrapped up in a radio program that gets more off track by the minute - what an immense range that actor has (he's almost unrecognizable from Katsumoto - he's just silly). This movie is also good if you're interested in the culture - "Sumimasen" (excuse me) uttered frequently apologizes for every conceivable offense, and "sensei" (teacher, master) is used often to make the author feel important - and forget that she was the only entrant in a radio program writing contest & her work is continually being altered as the actors try to outmaneuver each other.

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	Gabby I.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful

After reading some of the other reviews the other members have posted, I'd have to say that this movie, with all due sincerity, was so much fun! Although I only saw it from the middle to the end, from what I saw, it was so funny. Really good comedy and just plain surprising! Its unexpected at times but with such a hilarious turnout! Watanabe's cameo (maybe not much of a cameo back in the day) was so good, it made me tear up of laughter by seeing him get so wrapped up in the ever changing story line. Who would've thought a truck driver would? So to wrap it up, I highly recommend this movie! You wont regret it ^_^

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	Jonathan A.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

This story of a live radio broadcast gone wrong while occasionally amusing, is too small a story and not believeable enough to engage me. The characters are stick figures and the action isn't _that funny. This piece was done for television and it has that middle ground focus of television. I did find out that the Japanese word for author is "sensi". (Not quite sure why the movie did not translate that term, but never mind.)

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