1 week Ago By Andrea Oldereide
Fans of 2000s rom-coms have been treated to a delightful surprise as some of their hidden gems return for a revival, with one movie in particular raising eyebrows. Angelina Jolie headlines the overlooked gem Life or Something Like It which has recently dropped on Netflix . In a film that’s causing quite the chuckle among viewers, Jolie portrays the ambitious reporter Lanie Kerrigan.
The storyline, summarised by IMDb, gos: "Reporter Lanie Kerrigan interviews psychic homeless man Prophet Jack (Tony Shalhoub) for a fluff piece about a football game's score. Instead, he tells her that her life has no meaning and will end in just a few days. This sparks her to action to change the pattern of her life.
" Helmed by Stephen Herek of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure fame, Life or Something Like It was initially released in 2022. Critics gave it varied reviews, with scores of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.8/10 on IMDb.
Box Office Mojo records the film as a commercial flop, earning a mere $16,872,671 against its mammoth $40 million budget, reports the Mirror US . Time, however, has a knack for rekindling appreciation for art, and Life or Something Like It is finally having its moment, thanks to streaming services breathing new life into this erstwhile box office disappointment. A Google reviews user was over the moon about a movie, gushing: "I loved this movie! Ive been laughing for 2 weeks every time I recall the scene of her singing Satisfaction.
..it's HILARIOUS! [sic]" They added, "Id never even heard of this movie before.
And HELLO...
Ed Burns. Ya..
.check it out. It's comedy people.
Let it be just that." In the delightful rom-com Life or Something Like It, Edward Burns charms as Pete Scanlon, whose on-screen chemistry with Angelina has audiences swooning. Meanwhile, an IMDb user contributed to the accolades, writing: "The moral of this story has been told every single time from 'It's a Wonderful Life', to 'Last Holiday', even to 'Click'.
Each of these movies have always won me over because I love moral stories and I certainly love this movie!" They indulged further in their praise saying: "Sure, you've seen this so many times before. Sure, it's filled with clichés, sure, it's predictable what's going to happen before it happens. But it's a feel-good movie.
It puts a smile on your face when it ends. Don't go on the movie too hard. "I loved the performance by Angelina Jolie.
The supporting characters give us some laughs along the way, although the film isn't too funny but more like a drama. I like the score for the film. I liked the film a lot but not as much as I thought it would be.
"Still, it was a pretty good film if you like moral movies. 'Live everyday like it will be your last'." Meanwhile, not everyone was swept away by the rom-com wave, as one reviewer noted with disappointment: "Despite a myriad of satirical possibilities, a shallow comedy about TV news-people.
..Nothing like real life!" "Fancy directorial touches--and Angelina Jolie looking sexy in a Marilyn Monroe platinum 'do--cannot save innocuous, superficial film about a TV news-anchor being told she will die in a week by a street psychic with an impeccable record.
"Romantic side-plot between Jolie and cameraman Ed Burns never heats up, although Jolie is quite an intriguing presence all on her own (her performance is generally uneven, but her beautiful face is always worth reading). "Has a few strong scenes, and an interesting supporting performance from Stockard Channing as a Barbara Walters-type, however the script doesn't dig very deep." Another viewer added: "LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT has a premise of reporter Lanie Kerrigan being told by a homeless man that she's going to die in a few days from now and right away I was expecting some bitter-sweet angst , a sort of present day morality tale inspired by Frank Capra and I guess very early in production this was the idea but I was left confused.
"Is it a redemption tale ? If so then why does Lanie start out as a not unlikable person and remain a not unlikable person throughout the movie ?" "You see there's little in the way of character development and the situations and soul searching never seem to draw the audience into Lanie's fears. "None of this is helped Stephen Herek's shallow direction either. In short this is a shallow film but while being confused as to what it's trying to say it's also fairly watchable too .
"Angelina Jolie is breath takingly beautiful and in many ways she's like a female Leonardo Dicaprio in that her good looks disguise she's a much better actress than critics give her credit for and imagine how worse the movie would be if her role was taken by say Sandra Bulloch while Dave Newman's haunting score also helps the movie greatly.".
