Abby doesn't accept the rejection right away. In fact, she seems to be trying her best to deny it. But she does realize one thing - she needs to change something about herself or nothing will change for her. This is where the title of the movie comes in, and Abby takes it upon herself to learn to do something. Or rather, she stubbornly forces herself upon the Ramen chef who runs the shop across from her apartment until she becomes his student.
If the experience is not entirely a realistic one, it at least borrows from Japanese drama enough to be called a Japanese one. The movie gives the feeling of a Japanese TV drama for the most part. For one, characters in the movie are a bit more like caricatures than people. And then there's the over-the-top reaction to ramen that Abby witnesses. See, in this movie, it's rather strongly implied that the feelings you put into ramen when you create it will be felt by those who consume it. But the concept is portrayed with no subtlety to the point of being cartoonish. People take one bite of a bowl of ramen in this movie and either start spontaneously crying or laughing. There are also visual gags, thankfully most of which were cut from the movie, that tend to go over the top.
It's difficult to say whether it's a good thing that so many deleted scenes are included with this DVD. These scenes reveal how much more corny the movie would have been if some had been included. But it also reveals what would have been a much stranger and darker ride. Yes, the scene where her best friend dies would have put a little bit of a dark cloud over things. But missing this scene also creates a bit of a loose end when she goes mysteriously missing for most of the movie. There's also the point where Abby's new love interest mentions that he was a musician. Well, with his off-key singing routine removed from the movie, you can keep imagining that he was a good one. For one more weird detail, the entire movie seems to have been edited for cursing, maybe even sex, but some of it shows up in the deleted scenes anyway. It seems to negate the effect of editing for this just a bit.
Even with all this extreme editing, what survives is still enjoyable to watch. As Abby and her ramen "teacher" constantly throw insults, Abby and her aggravated responses are equally lost upon him. Also, as with many Japanese shows, you tend to learn a little bit about the background behind one particular item or activity - in this case, ramen. You also pick up on some details that you might not have thought about otherwise. Ramen is a self-contained universe? Oh yes, and you thought this was just about noodles. Overall, this movie left me with a smile on my face, and sometimes that's all you need.
