A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Powerful

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Robert 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.

Director Danny Boyle had established himself as a very credible British director with his first two films Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, but his third film went a bit the other direction. Basically in Heaven, Gabriel (Commando's Dan Hedaya) tells angels O'Reilly (Holly Hunter) and Jackson (Delroy Lindo) to go to Earth to bring two people together, and if they fail cannot return. These two people are Robert Lewis (Ewan McGregor) who lost his job as a janitor to a robot and is mad at his boss Naville (Sir Ian Holm), and the boss's daughter Celine (Cameron Diaz) who Robert kidnaps. Celine realises that Robert isn't experienced in kidnap at all, and she is actually interested in helping him for the money he can demand, so she makes him ask for a high price ransom. As time goes by and they stick together throughout everything the kidnap scenario is fading away as Robert and Celine may be developing feelings for each other, just as Gabriel had planned. O'Reilly and Jackson know that the best way to bring them even closer is to put them in jeopardy, and they get help from Celine's father in order to track them down and do this themselves, but they are foolish in how they do it. There is the point when they have an argument and split apart, and then the angels take Celine in order for Robert to be mad enough to go after her. In the end the dream that Robert had been having for some time about saving the life of Celine indeed becomes reality, and O'Reilly and Jackson return to Heaven as their mission was successful, the happy couple even get married. There is also a short bit of Claymation where we see them retrieve the suitcase of ransom money from earlier on and get a castle in Scotland, and there are bits and pieces of the other characters. Also starring Ian McNeice as Mayhew, Frank Kanig as Ted, Mel Winkler as Francis 'Frank' Naville and Stanley Tucci as Elliot Zweikel. McGregor was reasonable, Diaz was sexy and sassy, Holm got his moments, and Hunter and Lindo were indeed completely miscast, Boyle doesn't quite have a grasp on what to do in each scene, the road movie thing with angels chasing them is alright, overall, it is a film too silly to take seriously, a pretty daft romantic comedy. Adequate!

How many times have I said that so and so is the worst picture I have ever viewed? Well, A Life Less Ordinary certainly qualifies.Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter are sent back to earth to help a couple resolve their difficulties. They certainly got more than they bargained for. So did the writers of this inane script as well as the viewers who paid money to see such junk on screen.A young Ewan McGregor loses his job and his gal in one day. Frustrated beyond belief, he soon gets involved with his ex-boss's daughter who is also disillusioned with her father as he threatens her with going to work. The 2 grope their way into romance while fleeing Lindo and Hunter who die numerous times. Trouble is that they can't really die because they're already dead. Such is the same with this terrible film.Everything is so amateurish here. The bank robbery is not exactly what Bonnie and Clyde would have pulled either. Place the reel of this film in the green circular file.

So, I felt the need to write a review considering that, despite this, at time of writing, only has 6.3 stars on IMDb, this is my favorite movie. Was it the first time I watched it? No, but I did like it. And I've been able to watch it many times over and still love it. I guess a lot of people don't get it or just don't like it, but this movie is perfect to me. I'm not sure exactly why I love it so much, but let's start with the cast: Ewan is absolutely adorable, Cameron plays her character well, and the angels are great. (Delroy is good, but Holly is just amazing - so hilarious). I also think that it's a clever concept presented in an entertaining way. This movie just totally clicks for me. It's a little strange (if I had to describe it in one word I would use "quirky"), but so am I, and so is life. I can't really think of any other movies to compare it to, but if you like a story about love, coupled with a bit of whimsy, I think you will enjoy it. I literally can't think of anything I would do to make it better (but I only rated it nine stars because I'm sure there's something). Oh, and Ewan sings :)