Netflix Self-Torture Experiment Trilogy #41: Life or Something Like It
This was a suggestion from @eoporto.
Synopsis from Netflix: A reporter (Angelina Jolie) with a shallow, meaningless life interviews a psychic homeless man named Prophet Jack (Tony Shalhoub) who informs her that her life will end in just a few days. The wake-up call emboldens her to try and change things around … hopefully, for the better. Stockard Channing scores as an investigative reporter modeled after Barbara Walters, and Edward Burns co-stars as Jolie’s beleaguered cameraman.
My thoughts (serious spoilers included): This movie somewhat reminded me of P.S. I Love You in the sense that it had a good concept but simply didn’t pull it off very well. The idea that discovering you only have a week left until you die could inspire you to make the most out of your remaining time certainly makes a lot of sense; I’m just not sure the film properly conveyed the emotions which would go along with such a revelation.
Basically, a hobo prophet tells Angelina Jolie that she’s going to die in a week and his prediction gains credibility when all of his other lunatic visions come true (i.e. hailstorms, earthquakes, and the Seahawks actually winning a game). What does she do under these circumstances? She gets drunk and makes an ass of herself on live TV, which for some reason leads to her getting her dream gig on a national morning show.
To be fair, the filmmakers did make an attempt at showing her character grow by including scenes with her fiance (in which they break up), her sister (where nothing was resolved), her father (where a touching moment was had), and Ed Burns (which contained an overly cheesy montage of spending a day with his son).
The problem for me was that, after her seemingly brief period of crisis, she returns to normal and stops believing in the hobo’s prediction. She goes to New York for her fancy new job and even flaunts death a couple of times on the way. Meanwhile, Ed Burns gets a pep talk from his buddy involving the use of Altoids as an analogy for Jolie’s character, and gets inspired to chase her down in the Big Apple. At this point, the movie falls in to typical feel-good romance mode.
When Jolie decides after her first day at the new job that she would rather return to Seattle, she then promptly gets shot accidentally on the street. Oh no! It suddenly seems that the hobo was right the entire time and that all is lost for the couple, but only for about 30 seconds. Once the scene shifts to the hospital, it’s clear that she is going to survive and they’ll live happily ever after (which they do). [Two out of five stars.]
