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A Life Less Ordinary
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A Life Less Ordinary
1997
Romance
Comedy
1h 43m
Ewan McGregor stars as a cleaning man in L.A. who takes his boss's daughter hostage after being fired and replaced by a robot. Two "angels" who are in charge of human relationships on earth, offer some unsolicited help to bring this unlikely couple together. The "angels" are so successful that the daughter soon turns on her father in order to save her captor. (imdb)
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A Life Less Ordinary
1997
Romance
Comedy
1h 43m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 40.49% from 1025 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews
(1032)
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Rated 18 May 2008
80
68th
Kind of an attempt to melt down _A Matter of Life and Death_ and pour it into a '90s-romantic-comedy mold. Weird, but all told a good movie
Rated 18 May 2008
Rated 29 Mar 2011
42
17th
I don't know, maybe I was just pissed off with something else when I was watching it, but I think this is the worst effort by Danny Boyle.
Rated 29 Mar 2011
Rated 15 Jan 2010
54
26th
A huge step down from Trainspotting. I liked Boyle's directing, but the screenplay wasn't that good.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
Rated 19 Jul 2009
89
97th
Essentially a chick-flick, but a bit campy and eccentric.
Rated 19 Jul 2009
Rated 21 Oct 2008
2
33rd
Woah, here's another for the "barely remember seeing it" category. I completely forgot about this, and I'm pretty sure I saw it only a year ago. Left a HUGE impression on me, clearly.
Rated 21 Oct 2008
Rated 14 Aug 2007
50
19th
Watch this turn from an energetic comedy to a thriller to a romance to a musical, but at no time is a tone established that says that anything can happen, and certainly very little is invested in the characters to make us truly interested in their agendas. In short, it's a mess of brain farts and experimentation without a clue what the perceived outcome should be.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
Rated 14 Aug 2007
42
14th
This was perhaps pitched as a Tarantino-It Happened One Night, it's most interesting as a concept than a film. And the surrealistic religious elements don't work, though they are more fitted here than the would be in Millions.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
Rated 03 Jun 2012
60
20th
Boyle has great timing, it really cuts along, and Hunter is amazing (Lindo is also fun, which I was certainly not expecting). But the script is rubbish, and both McGregor and Diaz are insipid. Better leads could have improved this vastly, but I don't think anyone could save the idiot writing.
Rated 03 Jun 2012
Rated 25 Mar 2023
79
59th
One of Boyle’s more skittish and erratic efforts: the screenplay makes little sense, (the tonal hopscotching is wild to say the least), but this is still worthwhile for its stellar (and enthusiastic) cast: McGregor and Diaz sensibly work as the “serious” anchors, leaving Lindo and (especially) Hunter to steal scenes with Hodge’s outlandish flights of fancy; it is the general energy (and clear glee in the storytelling) that compensates for an ultimate lack of substance or resonance.
Rated 25 Mar 2023
Rated 23 Jul 2011
48
12th
Girl with the worst haircut in the world meets guy with the second worst haircut in the world. Stuff happens. There are angels. Not very good. Boyle is still trying to hit his stride here.
Rated 23 Jul 2011
Rated 16 Nov 2011
74
74th
Holly Hunter! :D
And what a romantic fucking ending. :>
Rated 16 Nov 2011
Rated 18 Nov 2011
41
16th
Messy plot, unlikable characters... why bother?
Rated 18 Nov 2011
Rated 17 Dec 2011
90
95th
Top badass moment? Robert going to see his boss Mr Naville, to 'discuss' the loss of his job. Fighting off six security guards, trashing a cleaning robot, threatening and shooting your boss in the leg and then kidnapping his daughter is pretty badass in my book; especially if you're one of life's losers like he is. If everyone was prepared to take a stand like this they'd be far fewer people being threatened with redundancy by technology. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Rated 17 Dec 2011
Rated 06 Feb 2021
70
31st
Clearly Boyle knows what he's doing as a director, but unfortunately the screenplay is a mess. The screenplay's genre hoping blunts all of the premise's potential. Sure McGregor, Diaz, and the rest of the cast are giving it their all, but I really can't stress just how rough the screenplay is. Outside of the initial kidnaping they never really adequately develop any of the set pieces no matter how hard everyone tries.
Rated 06 Feb 2021
Rated 01 Jun 2012
79
63rd
Possibly the cutest movie about kidnapping. It's a cool concept, and fun to watch. Cameron Diaz is overly stiff at times, but she's very likeable in the role.
Rated 01 Jun 2012
Rated 03 Oct 2014
14
12th
It's both ironic and entirely fitting that this film ends with an Oasis song blaring (plus McGregor's ridiculous Noel Gallagher haircut), as this movie can basically be seen as the cinematic Be Here Now. Which is to say, they both embody the exact moment 'Cool Britannia' hype collapses under the weight of gloriously wrong-headed ideas that must have seemed amazing amidst a blizzard of cocaine ("guys, get this - a metaphysical, postmodern Tarantinoesque throwback classic romantic comedy YES!")
Rated 03 Oct 2014
Rated 27 Oct 2012
78
66th
this movie has a weird feel to it, but i kind of dug the mind bending blend of genres here. i'll easily admit that the angels were the best bit.
Rated 27 Oct 2012
Rated 12 Apr 2020
25
7th
Leave is a great R.E.M. song. And that's all I have to say about this.
Rated 12 Apr 2020
Rated 08 Aug 2010
42
47th
#09#, liked, Cameron D, oldies(2) }*{ #90s#, story, (dir Boyle), Cameron D, (E McGregor)
Rated 08 Aug 2010
Rated 25 Feb 2013
38
12th
Total mess of a movie. Tries to merge Tarantino/Coen Brothers crime & black comedy with an optimistic and sweet love story. Neither works. The crime elements feel like a first draft of Shallow Grave, and the romance is forced. Lindo and Hunter steal the show, and belong in a much better movie where they don't need to play angels. The fantasy elements are utterly contrived. The cinematography pops and has good use of color, and there's some good music choices, but overall it's messy and not fun.
Rated 25 Feb 2013
Rated 12 Oct 2013
70
25th
The most 90s movie. The weakest Danny Boyle movie I've seen, and as Roger Ebert says "it never convinces us it needed to be made" but it has some fun experimental Boyle flourishes.
Rated 12 Oct 2013
Rated 24 Dec 2013
25
2nd
bad to a point where it was almost unwatchable the acting by Diaz and McGregor was mediocre at best. The other actors were just awful. The plot was completely nonsensical, and the dialogue felt like it was written by a 12 year-old. The cinematography was also really bad, the scene transitions were confusing and there were many scenes that could have been cut. the characters were very one-dimensional and there was no growth. very disappointing, overall.
Rated 24 Dec 2013
Rated 12 Aug 2014
78
35th
What a funky movie this movie is, indeed yes a funky movie that's what it is, funky.
Good music I think.
Rated 12 Aug 2014
Rated 29 Jan 2017
80
71st
Uneven but laced with delectable style and fresh moments.
Rated 29 Jan 2017
Rated 31 Mar 2008
50
39th
Likeable characters propel this amusing and clever movie. There's plenty to enjoy, and not much to dislike. There's nothing to say about this picture.
Rated 31 Mar 2008
Rated 19 May 2007
20
5th
I saw about a half-hour of this. That was already too much.
Rated 19 May 2007
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
68th
An adrenaline rush of a mix-mash of genres.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
Rated 14 Aug 2007
77
45th
Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz make a good pairing
Rated 14 Aug 2007
Rated 19 Sep 2007
25
26th
Kind of feels like that movie with Olivia Neutron Bomb and John Travolta. No, not Grease, that other movie that nobody ever sees. Perfect I think.
Rated 19 Sep 2007
Rated 16 Oct 2007
90
66th
See an early Cameron Diaz in something quirky. Also stars a fabulous Holly Hunter, as a gun-toting angel.
Rated 16 Oct 2007
Rated 20 Apr 2009
4
71st
"If only the rest of A Life Less Ordinary had been as smart and funny (which, oddly enough, it rarely is for a comedy), what a triumph it might have been."
Rated 20 Apr 2009
Rated 01 Aug 2009
69
65th
A generally very enjoyable and fun movie. It blends its various elements very well indeed, even if the script is at times woeful.
Rated 01 Aug 2009
Rated 17 Jan 2010
70
17th
A young and spirited Cameron Diaz with a weird hairdo is the best thing in this clunker. Everyone else's performances are atrocious, especially Ewan McGregor's clowning around, although the script does him no favours. Danny Boyle can do romance and crime, but not comedy - this fails to work on any level. There's also some dodgy camerawork and the music intrudes on virtually every scene. The part about the angels should be removed and it might stand a chance as a kidnap / Bonnie & Clyde story.
Rated 17 Jan 2010
Rated 09 Jun 2010
60
35th
other than the end this movie wasn't bad, excess baggage was however much better
Rated 09 Jun 2010
Rated 23 Jun 2010
58
34th
While the film is fun and inventive, it's just a bit too silly, outlandish and off-the-wall to be a solid film. All of it just gets too distracting and it unevenly molds with the actual story. The leads are good, but far from there best. Holly Hunter is just kind of weird. The best part of the film is definitely Delroy Lindo who shows a lot of soul and humanity (ironically enough, he's not even human, technically).
Rated 23 Jun 2010
Rated 26 Feb 2007
55
49th
Not bad.
Rated 26 Feb 2007
Rated 28 Aug 2010
8
79th
Swaps between genres effortlessly and was very enjoyable.
Rated 28 Aug 2010
Rated 24 Nov 2010
40
15th
a mess
Rated 24 Nov 2010
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