A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Spencer S

  
  This may be harsh to another's opinion, but this was a giant letdown in so many ways. Director Danny Boyle, who has thrilled with such enigmatic films as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Shallow Grave, decided to make a film that tries to be a plethora of things and fails at all… More
  This may be harsh to another's opinion, but this was a giant letdown in so many ways. Director Danny Boyle, who has thrilled with such enigmatic films as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Shallow Grave, decided to make a film that tries to be a plethora of things and fails at all of them. Billed as a comedy, I find none of this humorous, eccentric at best and a general misfire in all. The only hint that this was a Danny Boyle films lies in the strange sequence changes, the odd surrealism, and the presence of his favorite actor to work with Ewan McGregor. It's obvious that this was supposed to be quirky cute with a hindrance of thriller, but it comes off stagnant and clichéd throughout. The agents or angels from heaven are the oddest placement within the storyline as they meander through, being wretched and saying eerily prescient things to, mostly, themselves. I liked their give and take, their queer sounding dialogue, but they needn't have been in the film at all. The entire angle of heavenly intervention and fate would have rung true if the stakes weren't so high. Why did they need this impossible couple to get together, and why were there a shortage of happy couples in the world? There are just as many happy people as sad (at least I hope that's true.) Beside that disgustingly clichéd decision there is the romantic entanglements between kidnapper Robert (McGregor) and Celine (Diaz). It would have been excusable if the two people that the film is actually based around were engaging, funny, lighthearted, even cute and cuddly in some respects. There is just zero chemistry between our two leads. Celine is supposed to be a broad with a penchant for slipping into the role of femme fatale, when really she's a lost, pandering nothing of a character, whose motives are at the whim of the plot. Robert is boring and slow, and is only existent to be a romantic lead, clumsy and bumbling as well as poor. The supporting cast was decent, but otherwise I found nothing redeeming in this other than seeing how Danny Boyle progressed as a director.

• MisterYoda ?

  
  2 stars and a half

• Cassie H

  
  Complete & utter crap.

• Leigh R

  
  Ewan was adorable as per usual, but I wanted something more from this movie. Cute, but not cute enough.

• xGary X

  
  A pair of angels are charged with making a spoilt heiress and her inept kidnapper fall in love. Danny Boyle's take on the rom com is clearly an attempt to break the Hollywood mainstream, but at least he did it with a little knowing charm. Clearly inspired by It Happened One Night… More
  A pair of angels are charged with making a spoilt heiress and her inept kidnapper fall in love. Danny Boyle's take on the rom com is clearly an attempt to break the Hollywood mainstream, but at least he did it with a little knowing charm. Clearly inspired by It Happened One Night with a pinch of True Romance thrown in for good measure, it has the flavour of a Coen brothers' film and Raising Arizona in particular. McGregor and Diaz make a handsome couple although they don't quite click, and the comic relief provided by Hunter and Lindo is a little too post-Tarantino try hard. It certainly has its moments, but the story feels more like a patchwork of ideas that don't quite come together, highlighted in particular by the mildly embarrassing animation during the closing credits. Quirky enough to be enjoyable to the indie crowd but this is not exactly Boyle's finest moment. Nice try, but no cigar.

• Curtis L

  
  This movie is hilarous! It has Angel cops that are totally crazy, Ian holm as an evil corporate boss, and I think just about everyone in this film gets fatally shot but nobody dies. Gotta have it's babies. On Second Viewing: Not quite as cool. Got bored, and everything that… More
  This movie is hilarous! It has Angel cops that are totally crazy, Ian holm as an evil corporate boss, and I think just about everyone in this film gets fatally shot but nobody dies. Gotta have it's babies. On Second Viewing: Not quite as cool. Got bored, and everything that happened didn't seem to be funny or important or special. I guess just watch this one once if you want to like it.

• Conner R

  
  A ridiculously well-made and honest romantic comedy. It boils down to a chick flick that a guy can actually enjoy. The acting from McGregor is great and same for Cameron Diaz (surprisingly). The directing was just perfect too because it gave it an edge that I don't think anyone… More
  A ridiculously well-made and honest romantic comedy. It boils down to a chick flick that a guy can actually enjoy. The acting from McGregor is great and same for Cameron Diaz (surprisingly). The directing was just perfect too because it gave it an edge that I don't think anyone but Boyle could have pulled off.

• Veronique K

  
  "a life less ordinary" is danny boyle's primary attempt to hit into american market after his smashing success of countercultural revolt in 1995's junkie cult "transpotting"...it was shot when ewan mcgregor still belonged to the trio of… More
  "a life less ordinary" is danny boyle's primary attempt to hit into american market after his smashing success of countercultural revolt in 1995's junkie cult "transpotting"...it was shot when ewan mcgregor still belonged to the trio of boyle/hodge/mcgregor screen team since "shallow grave", the art-house british channel 4 independent production before boyle sold him out in "the beach" by casting leonardo dicaprio in the role he was supposed to play, long before mcgregor's become commericialized star-war prop..it took place also when cameron diaz still played sassy hard-boiled femme fatale before "something about mary" sweetens and softens her screen persona as romantic lead.. the scenario is goofy. it's about a stupid janitor who kidnaps his boss' daughter in a rage after he's fired and dumped by his live-in girlfriend..then these two fall in love absurdly. of course, even angels in the heaven are their guidances to the journey of celestial bliss despite the course involves mayhem and bloodshed. it's generally a mixed genre of romantic comeday and neo-noir. don't expect rationality and sensible plot-developments because the essence of this movie is a brazen cheer of slacker's hashish daydreaming and mcgregor's presented as a character of proteriat outrage in the oblivion of the generation x, a mutant divergence from his trainspotting persona. he fantasizes about writing a blatant trash-novel to redeem his miserable existence of ephemerality, and his ideal romance is a game-show called "perfect love", favored by a pampered brat who appreciates such weakling demeanors and even aids him to get the ransom from her abrasive father who insists on cutting off her allowances. they pretend they're pop-stars and cabret dancers along the melody of bob darin's "beyond the sea"...in spite of their slacker narcissism, they do have a naively sacred respect over the bond arranged by fate but their deterministic conventionalism's got to be rendered in their deviant imaginations like angels act like noir villains to help the course of destiny, blah blah blah...oh, bank-robbery could be a pleasant stimulus of passionate kiss.. basically "a life less ordinary" is a celebration of "style over substance"..the costumes and location shots are particularly elaborated with a boyle trademark, such as mcgregor's mullet hairdo and floral shirt, diaz's bob-headed siren who high-hats men around..as for the location, i bet it's around the borderline of nevada and california where i've driven for several times while heading for las vegas, or it's around the woods in colorado??(i would be happy if anyone tells me where it's shot)...the valley cabin as the hideaway spot and the desolate driveway within the desert hills are well-selected and they all give you a otherworldly feeling of american universalism due to the unique perspective of a british director shooting america.. audience might neglect it's neo-noir trying to act like romantic comedy, or the other way around, holly hunter and cameron diaz are the neo-femme-fatales who conduct themselves rough and ruthless like avenging fury with a pistol in well-tailored suit..diaz coaches mcgregor how to perform lethal dialogue to ask for ransom while hunter orders delroy lindo to murder mcgregor in the corder of dark woods digging a hole beforehand for the burial...the deliberate gender-reversal's gonna make you giggle..but eventually it's less a romantic comeday than dark farce since our hero only concedes his emotions to our heroine after someone persuades him with words "she's a glamorous pussy in heaven and you're a two-dime worker cleaning floor in hell, why bother to think too much over whether she's your type or not??" this movie has so many colors on its palette that it's too distractive to enjoy..but ain't the life-style of lovelorn slacker so? also, it has one of the coolest soundtracks ever like trainspotting since the soundtracks of danny boyle's movies always have a it chicness before he reached international fame by 28 days and slum millionaire. (ps) around the same year, alicia silverstone made a stupid comedy about love in the course of kidnapping with benicio del toro, called "excessive baggage"....the sketch of storyline does have a parallel but it's much less creative and much more mundanely melodramtic(should i just say cheesy?)...don't get mistaken by that.

• Anthony L

  
  Was ok, hated the singing bit though! Was a bit of a letdown though after enjoying Trainspotting and Shallow Grave so much. I do think Boyle improved as a director during this film but he soon let himself down in The Beach. Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo stole the show in my opinion!

• Arash X

  
  "A comedy for anyone who's ever been in danger...of falling in love" EXTRAORDINARY, AMAZING, HILARIOUS

• Aaron N

  
  O'Reilly: Our fee for the recovery of your daughter is... one hundred thousand dollars. Naville: That's a lot of money. O'Reilly: Five thousand in advance. The rest is cash on delivery - no daughter, no dough. Jackson: And naturally we'd operate a sliding scale,… More
  O'Reilly: Our fee for the recovery of your daughter is... one hundred thousand dollars. Naville: That's a lot of money. O'Reilly: Five thousand in advance. The rest is cash on delivery - no daughter, no dough. Jackson: And naturally we'd operate a sliding scale, whereby if we only bring back part of your daughter, we only get part of the money. O'Reilly: That's enough, Jackson. Jackson: No, I mean if he's cut her ears off and we can't find them, we'll knock a couple thousand off the tariff. More for a limb, obviously. O'Reilly: Jackson. Jackson: Sorry. Usually put in the lower half of director Danny Boyle's filmography, I have always enjoyed watching this film. It's a strange, dark romantic comedy that involves kidnapping and angels sent to ensure the love between two people. It also features an impressive cast, a very good alternative soundtrack (something not unfamiliar to a Boyle film), and plenty of style to make this film very interesting visually. Robert: They're replacing us with fucking robots! Ewan McGregor stars as a slacker, rocking a very strange hair cut, working as a janitor, until he is fired and his girlfriend dumps him. Cameron Diaz is a spoiled rich girl, who is at her father's (Ian Holm) wits end. McGregor eventually storms into his former boss' office and kidnaps Diaz. This is not too much of a coincidence, because two angels (Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter) have been sent by their boss (Dan Hedeya) to bring these two together. The majority of the movie revolves around McGregor and Diaz bickering and hanging together, while the angels pursue them using strange means to bring them together. This was Boyle's attempt at making a mainstream film despite the strange setup, and so of course many did not like it when it first arrived, but for some reason I have found this to be an enjoyable film due to its oddities. The soundtrack in particular, I enjoy, largely due to it having my favorite Beck song. Along with the romance stuff, this film plays with balancing cliches against elements of a trash novel, something MgGregor's character is actually trying to write, and brings it up again and again. This is an enjoyable film for me, but its not for everyone. Jackson: What the hell did you do to her? Robert: I punched her in the face. Jackson: Oh, you punched her in the face. She's half your size and you punch her in the face? Robert: She had a gun! Jackson: Oh, she had a gun! So that makes everything all right, does it? Robert: No, I'm not saying it makes everything all right. I'm just trying to explain to you that for all I knew, she could have been a karate expert or something. Jackson: With a broken arm? WITH A BROKEN ARM? Robert: O.K., I'm sorry.

• Candy R

  
  Ewan kidnaps Cameron but they fall for each other.

• Tim B

  
  Hey, I remember seeing this after Trainspotting. That's all I remember about it.

• Drew S

  
  I just don't know what A Life Less Ordinary is getting at. Does it want to be a comedy? I think I chuckled about three times through the entire movie. A romantic drama, perhaps? I found myself wondering if I was supposed to feel any sympathy for these characters. Ewan McGregor… More
  I just don't know what A Life Less Ordinary is getting at. Does it want to be a comedy? I think I chuckled about three times through the entire movie. A romantic drama, perhaps? I found myself wondering if I was supposed to feel any sympathy for these characters. Ewan McGregor gives a wallpaper performance on a generic character and Cameron Diaz is awful on an intolerable human being. Their romance is as poorly conceived as it sounds like it would be, with Diaz treating her counterpart like dirt the entire time and McGregor inexplicably falling in love with her. Probably because she's hot. Shallow! The "angels" device could have really improved this movie, but Danny Boyle used it so poorly that I found myself confused as to what the hell they were doing. Sure, maybe they were "jeopardizing" the couple, and their alliance with Celine's father was all part of their divine scheme, but the movie is this massive schizophrenic mess about the nature of fate. It shows in the plot, which is murky and confusing. The movie also closes with a horrible, cheesy montage of Diaz and McGregor's heads superimposed on random scenes of the movie arguing about whether or not fate exists and the meaning of love. I don't want to hear what those doddering fucktards have to say! As if I'm seriously supposed to believe that this acrimonious, vapid female character has these deep ruminations about the meaning of love and fate and existence. And what an inappropriate and cheap way to deliver them. I'm sure this movie could have had potential, but those glimmers I often see were few and far between here. A Life Less Ordinary, by dint of trying so hard to be a quirky take on the romantic comedy, ended up being a convoluted mess of a film; doomed from the start. Give it a miss.

• Michael S

  
  Very underrated film from Danny Boyle.

• Dean M

  
  This is the best Danny Boyle's movie I ever watched than <i>Trainspotting</i> because it has brilliant romantic comic fantasy with Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz. I don't care how disappointment this movie is from the other reviewers.

• Ross C

  
  Quirky but funny classic.

• Michael G

  
  I could see what it was trying to do, but they tried a bit too hard.

• Byron B

  
  Another obscure one. I've seen bad reviews of this, and I originally saw it with my brother late late at night when I was so tired my good taste was probably impaired. But I have seen it again recently, and if you accept its quirkiness as I have, it's a very funny movie… More
  Another obscure one. I've seen bad reviews of this, and I originally saw it with my brother late late at night when I was so tired my good taste was probably impaired. But I have seen it again recently, and if you accept its quirkiness as I have, it's a very funny movie that keeps the surprises coming all the way to the strange animation at the end.

• Ryan M

  
  3.6/10 I honestly don't know what was going through Danny Boyle's head when he directed "A Life Less Ordinary". It doesn't feel like one of his unique, intoxicatingly intriguing films that I'm quite fond of, nor is it particularly good in any way.… More
  3.6/10 I honestly don't know what was going through Danny Boyle's head when he directed "A Life Less Ordinary". It doesn't feel like one of his unique, intoxicatingly intriguing films that I'm quite fond of, nor is it particularly good in any way. Sure, it's not horrible, but it's pretty bad all around. There exists no chemistry between McGregor and Diaz, due to the unbalanced combination of talent. McGregor does do slightly better than Diaz as an individual, but it's hard to like something as ridiculously muddled and silly as "A Life Less Ordinary". It's not completely unwatchable (due to some solid cinematography throughout), but the film gives the audience twists that nobody wants as well as fake emotion that only the most bland of action comedies can deliver. Danny Boyle is still a great director (when he puts some back into it), but "A Life Less Ordinary" lacks the rather "unordinary" appeal of some of the director's greatest works. So "A Life Less Ordinary" is sadly more ordinary than it wants to be, therefore making the name very unfitting. I see what the film wanted to do, but this bland, lifeless romance is neither funny nor tenderly emotional. I simply couldn't find myself getting any joy out of it. It's not really entertaining either, since there's more attempts at bleak romance than there is Danny Boyle. It's almost as if the guy didn't even direct it, but it went under his name anyways. It's simply surprising, due to the fact that "Trainspotting" was a solid start, and this is surprisingly not Boyle's first crack at cinematic wonder. Nearly every time he can get a winner. But not this time. Romantic comedies combined with ridiculously un-stylized action sequences never work out. And even without the action they usually fail. Danny Boyle may have hoped for something new and different with the film, but as a result he created something fairly horrendous. "A Life Less Ordinary" simply isn't fun to watch. It is thoroughly predictable, and it's like any old romantic comedy. It brings nothing new or exciting to the genre. Nothing. So I suppose I should be getting to the plot, not that it matters. "A Life Less Ordinary" is essentially about two people who have nothing alike aside from the fact that they both want just that. So in ways, the title sums up the premise well enough. These two people meet fairly ironically, in the sense that the man of the couple kidnaps the lady (who just so happens to be a rich snob) but ultimately fails to get what he wants through the act. Wait. Let's backtrack just a little bit. So the film begins with a down-on-his-luck bar janitor named Robert. He is (surprise, surprise) fairly unhappy with his life, although things just get much worse when he is fired in able for a mere robot to take his place. Enraged, Robert confronts his boss, and attempts to get his job back. This fails, so he beats up the big boss and takes the man's daughter hostage. And essentially, that's the plot. Oh wait, but there's more! There are angels! There are gunfights! And then there's romance. The two unlikely people start to form a certain romance through time (since Robert's the biggest wimp I've possibly ever seen, and he didn't even kill the spoiled woman), although the lady (Celine) is almost completely ignorant of this. The point is that the plot carries out for too long. It's a potentially painful experience (considering it's just so darn boring) that brings nothing particularly new to cinema or Danny Boyle's filmography. It's just so damn forgettable. But maybe that's for the best. There's absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between McGregor and Diaz. Cameron Diaz is simply horrible as her character. I don't favor her (nor do I completely despise her) as an actor to begin with. McGregor does the slightest bit better than Diaz, but his performance still couldn't be called believable. He's simply doing what he does in seemingly every movie; be the guy that he's not. Holly Hunter is completely pathetic, as is her partner in crime Delroy Lindo. Stanley Tucci isn't THAT bad, but he lacks a solid amount of good screen time. Ian Holm wasn't that bad either, but he was nearly as bland as every actor involved in this boring mess of a film. I can't say I liked the style of "A Life Less Ordinary". It's not among the worst of romantic comedies, but it's definitely not among the best either. The film is supposed to be as funny as it is romantic, although it fails at being both. The humor is intended to be "dark comedy". What? Really? I didn't see anything "dark" about the comedy. It wasn't funny, awkward, etc. It just wasn't comedic. It was too ridiculous, maybe. But certainly not funny. As for the romance....well, you should know by now how well that worked out. With the failed chemistry and all, there might as well not be any chemistry. The film also attempts to have silly yet intently appealing action sequences, but these scenes aren't flamboyantly ridiculous enough to be fun or particularly good in any way or form. The action lacked heart, soul, or even energy. It was almost as if it was put in there just to keep the audience from falling asleep. I mean, with gunshots, who really can? Certainly not me. Now, the only truly good thing about this film was the cinematography, which had some pretty good moments. Perhaps not beautifully shot throughout, but at moments I noticed a hint of heart and true effort. Not as great of camera work as that in "28 Days Later", but still visually thrilling in some instances. The soundtrack can be faint (as in you can barely hear it) at moments, but the songs involved aren't half bad. Just not half good either, and sadly that hurts the film as well. I adore Danny Boyle so much, but I find it hard to like what may be his worst film overall. It's not his style of filmmaking, and that's all you need to know. I found it to be annoying and completely formulaic, so if you've seen enough of bad romantic comedies, then please avoid this film. I expect that Danny Boyle fans (such as me) will be the people to be most likely disappointed by this film, since it matches the quality of a bad, made-for-television romantic dramedy. Perhaps this was indeed low budget, but I have none the less seen better out of both British directors and comedy films in general. Take my word for it. Aside from some good camera angles, this is a very poorly crafted film. It's worth the skip.

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