I decided to watch this while working on my WWS 562 paper on the end of the Pacific War, and was really glad I did. Regardless of how bad Rotten Tomatoes says it is, I found nothing to nitpick or really even to dislike.
Tommy Lee Jones is solid as MacArthur, but Matthew Fox carries the movie as an American general detailed by MacArthur to report to him on whether Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal or not. The movie offers an interesting look at the beginning of the Allied occupation of Japan, and the clashes (or lack of clashes) with the Japanese culture. The prewar romantic subplot between the American and the Japanese college student didn't detract from the story at all (I'm in the minority here), and my favorite part was when the American researching Japanese culture was taken in by her aunt and uncle (a Japanese general) and had a chance for a frank discussion about the competing cultures on the eve of war. It was at least as good as the few minutes between Yamamoto and Layton at the beginning of Midway.
The climax was well-done and I really appreciated how well the entire cast did dramatizing the meeting between MacArthur and Hirohito at the end of the movie.