Best movie of this year hands down!
... View MoreVery Cool!!!
... View MoreSimply Perfect
... View MoreExcellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
... View MoreThe premise of "A Life Less Ordinary" is an old one. Two beings (or non-beings) from beyond (in original and earlier versions they would be angels) are sent to earth to make sure that two people meet, fall in love and marry. The chief who gives them this last chance (or they will be doomed to live on earth), laments the high rate of divorce from the past work of these two "spirits" in human form. The two objects of their "mission" are a disgruntled former employee of a mega-firm, and the spoiled rotten rich daughter of the belligerent, brash billionaire boss of the mega-firm. Any viewer would make a connection that it's no wonder their marriage matches fail. What transpires in this film is a series of mishaps, accidents, crimes, chases, and goofy goings-on. But they are not funny – even tragic in some instances. The script is weak and the whole plot just doesn't come off as comedy. Nor is the romance even imaginable, let alone believable. This appears like two films intertwined. The one is the fantasy, with the two spirits on a mission of "love." The other is crime, or more properly a bag of crimes. And somehow, comedy is supposed to link these. But it doesn't work. The cast mostly are OK in the characters they have to play, but overboard at times. There isn't a single likable character in the film. Ian Holm is the greedy, controlling, self-centered billionaire dad, Naville. Cameron Diaz is his spoiled rich, greedy, self- centered daughter, Celine. Like father like daughter. But in this case it's hard to like either character. This is a picture of a super wealthy dysfunctional family.Ewan McGregor is the disgruntled former employee who was replaced in his cleaning job by a robot. He is naïve, hapless and not very convincing in his role as Robert Lewis. Holly Hunter plays the extraterrestrial O'Reilly and Delroy Lindo is her cohort, Jackson. O'Reilly spends much of her time in bandages, splints and crutches from mishaps. Stanley Tucci is Elliot Zweikel, another supposed character for comedy. The mayhem amongst this motley assembly of characters is no more funny than someone shooting your best friend. That's what this film is – a collection of shootings and assorted crimes for laughs. It sends a message that all this is OK if the two subjects come together in the end. Since when does the end justify the means? Besides, who could believe that this match would last? It's easy to see why this film flopped at the box office and lost a few million dollars.
... View MoreRobert Lewis's life seems to be going nowhere; he loses his janitorial job to a robot, gets dumped by his girlfriend and is evicted from his how; meanwhile Celine Naville is living a pampered life; all paid for by her father; Robert's boss. Under normal circumstances they would never even meet but what follows are not normal circumstances. Two angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, have been sent down from heaven to make sure they get together by whatever means necessary. Robert and Celine's relationship gets off to an unusual start when he kidnaps her after confronting her father. He is possibly the world's worst kidnapper but luckily she is happy to tell him what to do for part of the ransom as she is not happy with her father's suggestion she should work for him. Her father has no intention of paying though and hires O'Reilly and Jackson, who are posing as bounty hunters, to get Celine back and kill Robert! Of course extreme circumstances start to bring them together; they might still need a push in the right direction though.Anybody who has seen director Danny Boyle's previous films featuring Ewan McGregor may be expecting lots of swearing and violence; there is some but by no means as much as this is a romantic comedy. That doesn't stop Cameron Diaz shooting her suitor in the head while emulating William Tell's famous act or Holly Hunter's O'Reilly getting crushed by a pick-up truck then carrying on like some angelic terminator. There are plenty of laughs to be had along the way and the cast do a fine job throughout. As well as the two leads Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo are fun in their roles of the two angels and Ian McNeice is very funny playing it dead straight as the Naville's butler/enforcer! The story itself is silly but that is part of the fun. Overall this is a fun film that may be a little too quirky at times but is still worth watching.
... View MoreI really loved this movie, it was well written, well directed, and well acted, and the icing on the cake is Cameron Diaz, she is quite the package, smoking hot with a great personality and is just awesome in this movie. Ewan McGregor is no slouch either, his high energy keeps the film moving at a nice steady pace. What really ties it together is a perfect sound track. The entire film is planted with mood enhancing songs that roll flawless with each scene. What I loved is how the director kept the film light, no overly heavy scenes, keeping it fun throughout the entire picture. Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo's characters were hilarious and I found myself constantly rooting for them. I would put this film in my top 20 favorite movies and I highly suggest watching it.
... View MoreI have to admit that for some time now I have been a bit of a fan of the work of Danny Boyle. As such, I'm made it a bit of a mission to take a look at as much of his back catalogue as I can whenever they are shown on TV. So this is how I came to watch this one. I have to say it's not the best film I've seen associated with his name, but it's passable. More of my thoughts after this very brief summary.We start in heaven (where else), where two angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, are given their last chance to, let's say, facilitate a couple falling in love. It's a tough case; two people from very different backgrounds. First there's Robert Lewis who's a cleaner (& a writer in his spare time) who has just lost his job and been dumped by his girlfriend. Then there's Celine Naville a rich socialite whose father wants her to go to work for him. They are thrown together when Robert goes to see Celine's father to demand his job back and things go slightly wrong. He ends up kidnapping Celine and taking her to a cabin in the wilderness. He really doesn't have a clue and Celine ends up taking the lead; deciding she may as well try to get some money out of her father. Meanwhile, O'Reilly and Jackson are hired by Celine's father to find them. As you can see, it's getting a bit complicated already and we're only part-way through! I'll leave it there though or the Spoiler Police (confusing plots division) will have me kidnapped in amusing circumstances (again).A well made film that has the beginnings many of the hallmarks of Boyle's latter works. Some interesting ideas thrown in, some that worked and some that didn't, but then I see it as a bit of a stepping stone for Boyle. Nice performances all round; Ewan McGregor did a decent job as Robert Lewis, although his haircut is pretty bizarre! Cameron Diaz did a great job as Celine; it's the kind of role she's pretty comfortable in. I thought both Holly Hunter as O'Reilly and Delroy Lindo as Jackson were excellent. Honourable mentions must also go to; Ian McNeice as Mayhew, Frank Kanig as Ted, Stanley Tucci as Elliot Zweikel, Tony Shalhoub as Al and Ian Holm as Naville (Celine's father).Although I'm a fan of Danny Boyle's work, I'm afraid this one failed to hit the mark (for me). I found the plot far too over-complicated, almost like they were trying to fit far too many ideas in all at once. To me it would have been much more interesting to see the story from the point of view of O'Reilly and Jackson, but then I guess I'm not a screenwriter (yet). Yes, there were some nice touches, for instance, I loved the song and dance routine in the bar; very funny. Over all though, it's one I'll have to sit on the fence as far as recommendation goes; it's kind of in the middle there somewhere.My score: 5.7/10IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 20,915 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 39/100 (based on 36 reviews counted at the time of going to press). Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 56/100 (based on 52,726 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
... View More