Review of A Life Less Ordinary

A Life Less Ordianary is little more than one big collection of sub-par efforts from a lot of Grade A talents. The first ten minutes are promising in that they could've set the tone for a dark, playful, fantastical, and edgy film that takes familiar themes (star-crossed lovers, free will vs. Determinism, fate vs. chaos) and spun them on their head. Instead, the movie falls into a weary groove of cliches and predictability. The film's humor is mean-spirited and unfunny, the attempts at romance are stale and uninspired, and any metaphysical questions the film begins to raise end in disappointment, as they are treated with ingenuous irony that leaves viewers feeling unchallenged and unmoved. All this said, I'd be remiss to not mention the fact that Danny Boyle does achieve some interesting things style-wise and one does get the sense that this really is a gifted-filmmaker in the making. But don't feel bad for skipping this one.