Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 1:44 - Released 4/26/02
LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT
Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 1:44 - Released 4/26/02
This film is an example of what you get when you pair a formula
writer with a formula director. You get a formula movie. Life
Or Something Like It, while not a spectacular film, clearly
displays the workmanlike instincts of its creative team, instincts
which neither inspire greatness nor fail altogether. Director
Stephen Herek (Rock Star) and
writer John Scott Shepherd (Joe
Somebody), teaming up with the very capable Angelina Jolie,
turn out a serviceable romantic comedy which will float at the
box office for a few weeks before fading into cinematic oblivion
to become a video store shelf warmer.
Jolie plays ambitious and self-absorbed Seattle TV newswoman
Lanie Kerigan, a health & fitness nut and control freak whose
life as a plain little sister changed when she adopted a platinum
blonde hairstyle and began wooing the local news audience with
her easy charm. When Lanie discovers she's up for a big network
job in New York City, she is ecstatic, but in order to build a
better demo tape, she's assigned to work with the slobby and carefree
Pete (Edward Burns), with whom she shares a healthy mutual animosity.
Their discomfort at this assignment stems partly from the fact
that their lifestyles are so different, and partly because they
slept together one drunken night way back when. Their first story
is about a homeless street psychic named Jack (Tony Shalhoub),
who, after predicting hail and an unlikely football win by the
Seahawks over visiting Denver, abruptly informs Lanie she's going
to die next Thursday. At first Lanie dismisses the comment, but
when both the other predictions come true, she begins to worry.
With possibly only a week to live, she begins to question her
life choices, and wonders, like Ebenezer Scrooge, if changing
her current path will alter the outcome.
Jolie is certainly as charming in this role as her character
is supposed to be, and as superficial. She begins to show a bit
of depth in the scenes where Lanie tries to reconcile with her
estranged sister (Lisa Thornhill) and seemingly oblivious father
(James Gammon), but her time on screen with Burns is pure Hollywood.
Burns, by the same token, is adequately likeable in a role with
much less depth than the one he played in Saving
Private Ryan. The chemistry between the two is exactly
enough to get by, but neither actor is bending over backward to
convince. Compared to these two, Shalhoub easily crafts the film's
most interesting character; it's just too bad he's hardly ever
on the screen. Also present is Stockard Channing as a snooty Barbara
Walters type, but her screen time is also severely limited.
Although this film makes a weak attempt to wax philosophical about making meaningful choices and being true to oneself, its creative team is really not up to the task of any such serious discussion. And Jolie; well, she's still trying to find her niche. ***½