A LIFE LESS ORDINARY RATING: 6 / 10 --> Barely recommendable
Review date: March 17, 1998
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: John Hodge
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Actors: Ewan McGregor as Robert
Cameron Diaz as Celine
Delroy Lindo as Jackson
Holly Hunter as O'Reilly
Genre: Comedy/Road movie
Year of Release: 1997
>From the creators of the creepy SHALLOW GRAVE (8/10) and the great TRAINSPOTTING (8.5/10) movies, comes A LIFE LESS ORDINARY. This movie is, well, if you don't mind me saying so...a little less than ordinary.
PLOT: The plot has Robert getting fired from a corporate heartless company, kidnapping the daughter (Celine) of said firm almost involuntarily, hitting the road with the whining spoiled brat, and being sought after by two "angels" sent down by Gabriel the Saint, who are supposed to attempt a love connection between the polar opposite pair.
CRITIQUE: Nothing special here. The plot line is pretty thin and unoriginal. The ending is all but given away by the poster of the film itself. The lame angels, played surprisingly by Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter, are annoyances more than anything. Even Danny Boyle's most original style seems to have taken a back seat here. And to think that he turned down the fourth installment of the ALIEN series for this shite.
Overall, I did not care about either of the characters enough to get into the movie one bit. Some scenes were semi-funny (when Robert is calling in the ransom request), there's a bit of style in the first ten minutes or so but then it disappears, the soundtrack is pretty slick, and the acting is passable, but overall the movie just didn't have enough originality or drive to muster any kind of enthusiasm from this big Danny Boyle fan (and that's saying a lot).
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part of the movie which takes place during the closing credits. A claymation rendition of the couple travelling through their adventures is much more interesting than anything in this entire picture.
Little Known Facts: Ewan McGregor has starred in all three of Danny Boyle's feature films. John Hodge has written all three of Danny Boyle's feature films. Andrew McDonald has produced all three of Danny Boyle's feature films. Ewan McGregor will play the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel to the STAR WARS series. Holly Hunter stands 5"2, and once shared a house (on and off) with directors Joel Coen and Sam Raimi, writer/producer Ethan Coen and fellow actresses Frances McDormand and Kathy Bates.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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