Review of A Life Less Ordinary (1997) by Tea R — 17 May 2010

This movie isâ?¦appalling. This is one of the worst films by an Oscar-winning director Iâ??ve ever seen. So Danny Boyle makes one of the best movies of the 90s with Trainspotting, and, given control to do anything he wants, he makes this? You know how romantic comedies always have obnoxiously mismatched people falling in love against all odds? This is sort of like that, but in this case, the hand of God (two angels played by Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo) are literally bringing spoiled rich girl Cameron Diaz and down-on-his-luck dreamer Ewan McGregor together by ruining his life, forcing him to kidnap her, having them threaten to kill each other, and trying to kill them, all while theyâ??re none the wiser. What.

These are good actors given horrible roles and unable to make anything of them. Holly Hunter is so bad I couldnâ??t believe it was the same actress from the Piano. Cameron Diaz is unlikable and that anyone would fall for her is unbelievable, while Ewan McGregor is given some sort of weird hybrid of his character in Trainspotting and the character he would go on to play in Moulin Rouge and it doesnâ??t work at all. Itâ??s not their fault that their characters arenâ??t interesting or likeable and that any comedy or romance or drama between them falls flat. The script is just awful, the comedy uninspired, the story stupid, the situations ugly. Thereâ??s a word to highlight. This movie is ugly. Iâ??ve rarely seen such a wrong-headed movie that thought that if you stuck charming and talented actors in any situation it would be endearing rather than hateful or borderline evil. This film is gratingly misconceived.

Some of the shots are nice, so they remind you that Danny Boyle is a gifted director who can put wonderful images on screen. And thereâ??s a lovely scene where McGregor and Diaz sing to â??Beyond the Seaâ??. Otherwise, this movie was horrible.