This movie is as sardonic and dry as it is possible to be and still have a coherent screenplay. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Think
Raising Arizona only more subtle. Think Dr Strangelove only even more dry. In short, if you think the
Police Academy movies are the high-point of cinematic comedy, DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.
The Life Aquatic is about documentary film-maker (Bill Murray) on a quest to find the shark that killed his partner. Along with his crew he has a young man who may or may not be his son (Owen Wilson), and a pregnant journalist (Cate Blanchett) doing a story on him. Everything about this movie, from the sets to the locations, to the cast, says money, which is interesting since there is no way this movie could have succeeded. It truly is high comedy, there are no "jokes" per se, just a series of subtly absurd situations and events. For example every creature in the movie was made up by the screenwriters, not everybody will get that. It's satire as well, but unless you used to watch the old Jacques Cousteau documentaries you probably won't get it. This is the kind of movie that almost nobody under age 40 will be to get, and then only if they have a very specific sense of humor.
For the Bill Murray fans:
I think this is Murray at his best. This is him perfecting his acting style (a little looser than
Lost in Translation, but in the same vein). Murray has the ability to see what's funny in a script and use it without over-acting, always had, but this is him becoming a master at it.