Boyle has tried his hardest to fashion a romantic comedy that doesn't follow the expected formulas. "No cliches!" Robert screams at one point, and this seems to be the director's philosophy. Ironically, by swinging the pendulum so far into the realm of the absurd and violent, Boyle has stumbled into Tarantino/Coen Brothers territory, and, seen through the prism of all the copycat features that have sprung up in this area, huge chunks of A Life Less Ordinary seem like a retread. At least the ending, which is done using clay animation, is refreshingly unexpected.
The film is arguably most successful as a comedy. Several scenes, including one in a phone booth where Celine gives Robert lessons on how to demand a ransom, are funny. Boyle has always had a penchant for dark humor, and it's perhaps more evident here than in either Shallow Grave or Trainspotting. As a romance, however, A Life Less Ordinary is dead in the water. Cameron Diaz is a blast as Celine, the platinum-blonde queen of bad fashion and a worse attitude, but McGregor is barely interesting as the meek Robert. Together, these two generate no chemistry. There's more heat between O'Reilly and Jackson. And, speaking of the angels,
Hunter and Lindo do fine, intentionally over-the-top jobs as these two. Hunter is especially noteworthy, playing a smoking, tobacco-chewing tough who waves a gun around like she means business. Maybe she's the reason I thought of Raising Arizona. The supporting cast is populated by an interesting group of performers. In fact, A Life Less Ordinary features a mini-Big Night reunion, with Ian Holm, Stanley Tucci (as a dentist wooing Celine), and Tony Shalhoub (as a sympathetic bartender) all making appearances. Atom Egoyan favorite Maury Chaykin, who is rarely in a "normal" movie, has a part as a backwoodsman who is curious about Robert and Celine's activities in an abandoned cabin near his home. And Dan Hedaya plays the archangel Gabriel like a grumbling, put-upon representative of middle-management.
When it comes to love stories, no matter how lavishly they're adorned with auxiliary elements, I'd rather see a worn-out story with characters who really connect than something eccentric with a leading pair who are poles apart. Sadly, A Life Less Ordinary is the latter. However, while it's not the most successful romance,the movie does contain enough elements of interest to intrigue, if not always involve, the viewer. A Life Less Ordinary is fun -- it's just less fun and more familiar than I had expected.
© 1997 James Berardinelli
