A Life Less Ordinary

With divorce rates increasing, two angels are sent on a mission to bring men and women together as they should be - or not bother coming back to heaven. Their mission is a young man, Robert, who has been replaced as a cleaner by a robot and the spoilt daughter of his boss, Celine. The two meet as Robert bursts into his boss's office to demand his job back and accidentally ends up kidnapping Celine. As they go on the run they gradually grow to hate each other less.

Following up Trainspotting was never going to be an easy task - but at least they could have at least got near the quality of that film! In what feels like it wanted to be deliberately quirky, the plot involves angels controlling fate to bring two young people together in love. If it developed this idea in a structured and enjoyable manner then everything would have been fine, however as it is it is all over the place and doesn't really make much in the way of sense. Instead it feels more like a wildly out of control collection of stylish ideas.

In terms of narrative it barely hangs together and it creates a problem when it requires us to care for the characters and be part of their romance (as in, care about it). It is very appropriate that the end credits features a cartoon of sorts for that is fitting for the level of development that is in the central tale. The action is silly but not to the point where it gains the imaginative quirkiness of, say, the Coen brothers. Instead it is hard to penetrate the film and get involved with it, the action is daft and illogical, the laughs are rare and the characters are more like cartoon characters than people. It could have worked - but it doesn't.

The cast is good on paper, but the lack of material lets them down. McGregor came to fame through Boyle, but he gets done no favours here; he does stand out as someone who tries hard to make the material work, but he can't manage it. Diaz is good as well but again it's the material given to her that is the problem. The support cast is better simply because their lack of character and development isn't a problem; Lindo is good even if Hunter doesn't really fit in; although Holm and Hedaya have OK little cameos.

Overall this has energy but it doesn't really hang together in a way that works. It has touches of imagination and style but mostly it drowns in a sea of quirkiness lacking substance. It's a shame that such a talented cast and crew didn't have something better to work with - quirkiness for quirkiness' sake is not enough here.