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Tampopo

Play trailer Poster for Tampopo Released Sep 1, 1986 1h 54m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 58 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Two Japanese milk-truck drivers (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken Watanabe) help a restaurant owner (Nobuko Miyamoto) learn how to cook great noodles.
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Tampopo

Tampopo

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Critics Consensus

Thanks to director Juzo Itami's offbeat humor and sharp satirical edge, Tampopo is a funny, sexy, affectionate celebration of food and its broad influence on Japanese culture.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Itami uses his background in commercial art: every now and then, the characters assume shiny Pop poses, and the images have the slightly crazed look of heightened reality. Sep 13, 2023 Full Review Anupama Chopra Film Companion So you're watching all this amazing food being consumed, you're getting hungrier and hungrier and you're laughing harder and harder. May 18, 2020 Full Review Anton Bitel Little White Lies In Tampopo, every aspect of life is filtered through the prism of food - its rituals of preparation and consumption, its role as a social unifier or divider, its many healthy uses and perverse abuses. May 2, 2017 Full Review Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Itami squeezes Japanese food customs, even as he offers a fondly humorous survey of them. Rated: 3.5/4 May 1, 2025 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy What is it about food that brings out the best in filmmakers all across the globe? Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 10, 2022 Full Review Pieter-Jan Van Haecke Psychocinematography Tampopo is a classic that shows that life, in all its diverse aspects, turns around food and the enjoyment it provides. A narrative that needs to be savoured! Aug 11, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Darryl S This movie is a pretty good example of why RottenTomatoes is so obsessively politically correct with its ratings that once you've seen a movie like this with a 100% rating, it leaves you scratching your head and wondering, "Did I see the same movie the rest of these people did?" It plods along, the plot is very incohesive and the acting, while not bad, is not particularly good either. The music soundtrack was put together quite well, though, considering the rambling nature of the plot line it was trying to accompany. Also, the cinematography was good. But even these cannot make up for the deficiencies of its story content. This is certainly not a "100%" movie - not even close. I think we'll be sticking to IMDB for our research from now on. But even their reviewers have it up there at 7.9 which, again, is inexplicable. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/07/25 Full Review Garrett B A solid Japanese comedy from the 1980’s, but it’s a film I’ll probably not watch again for a while Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/04/25 Full Review Insomniac X Whimsical, warm-hearted comedy with surrealist interludes that reflects on food as a source -- and object -- of deep human passion. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/03/25 Full Review Shukri R noah:says tampopo (1986) is my favourite movie! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/03/25 Full Review Fer S Not interesting and filled with pointless irrelevant scenes. Would have worked much better as a shorter movie solely about the main character, and a separate movie with the other scenes as short random stories. Felt like a waste of time. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/29/24 Full Review Aender S A quirky Japanese comedy. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/12/24 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Two Japanese milk-truck drivers (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken Watanabe) help a restaurant owner (Nobuko Miyamoto) learn how to cook great noodles.
Director
Juzo Itami
Producer
Seigo Hosogoe, Juzo Itami, Yasushi Tamaoki
Screenwriter
Juzo Itami
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Production Co
Itami Productions, New Century Productions
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 1, 1986, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Oct 21, 2016
Release Date (Streaming)
May 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$224.1K
Runtime
1h 54m
Sound Mix
Dolby
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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