A Life Less Ordinary ** (1997, Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Ian Holm) – Classic Movie Review 1876

Director Danny Boyle’s 1997 movie is an honourable flop this time round from the Trainspotting (1996) production team, commendably trying something bold and adventurous a million miles away from their previous hit, with a modern spin on the 30s screwball comedy.

Boyle’s surreal romantic comedy boasts a top cast and the idea’s fine: two angels O’Reilly and Jackson (Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo) are ordered to go to earth to make two random people fall in love. They pick spoiled rich girl Celine Naville (Cameron Diaz) and Robert Lewis (a 60s haircutted Ewan McGregor), who’s an L.A. cleaning man/ janitor in her dad (Ian Holm)’s firm.

Dad sacks McGregor, and replaces him with a robot. McGregor abducts Diaz for half a million dollars ransom, which she objects to as too little. And then they lead each other a merry dance (in both senses) before falling in love.

There are shades of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable in It Happened One Night and James Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life here, but the comparisons aren’t favourable to the present film. The angels stuff is somewhere between weak and rotten, with Hunter particularly off key, though it’s screenwriter John Hodge’s writing that’s at the most fault.

But overall this is a muddled, incompletely digested film, with unresolved script issues, that’s at best only ever sporadically amusing and never actually funny. However, McGregor and Diaz redeem it a lot, bringing charm and comedy to all their scenes.

Stanley Tucci, Ian MacNeice, Dan Hedaya, Tony Shalhoub, Maury Chaykin, Judith Ivey head a very fine star character actor support cast.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1876

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