Ebert once said about "The Usual Suspects" that to the extent he understood what was going on, he didn't care. I found that judgment to be a bit unfair but I've got to be honest, it perfectly summarizes my feeling about "A Life Less Ordinary", a film I wouldn't have cared about if it wasn't for a colleague telling me it's one of her favorite and lending me the DVD so I could watch it during the weekend. Talk about diplomatic pressure, I needed to see it twice, one time I didn't get everything and the second I did but it didn't enhance the initial feeling.

What's the film about? A deadbeat wannabe writer named Robert (Ewan McGregor) put in an imbroglio leading him to pretend he's kidnapping a rich girl named Celine (Cameron Diaz) and together they go for a road trip where the Police look after them, Celine's father (Ian Holm) want him dead and two angels assigned the mission to make them (of all the persons in the world) fall in love. Why we never know but in that bureaucratic white-clad heaven, orders are orders, Gabriel (Dan Hedaya) is the authority and neither Holly Hunter nor Delroy Lindo want to lose their jobs. And so starts their mission to save the institution of marriage.

Watching the film, I kept wondering why? Why this? The film isn't exactly "Badlands" or "Natural Born Killers", it does channel David Lynch's "Wild at Hart", Steven Spielberg's "Always" (with Holly Hunter in a similar role) and it has the same existential vibes as "Raising Arizona" with Boyle paraphrasing his own style from "Trainspotting". Yet the film never really takes off. For one reason, it doesn't have any staple, any character to relate to, love that is put on a pedestal is only supposed to save two angels who are not likable in the first place and unite two people who have nothing in common whatsoever.

Think of "True Romance", for all its bizarreness and stylish dialogues, it was a true romance indeed. All the aforementioned movies had the pretension to be romantic but I'm afraid "A Life Less Ordinary" tried too much to replicate some previous successes that it should have tried to be more ordinary to be more original, and not some exercise in style where every single moment is an installment of weirdness with a shot that aims for posterity. You could call the dance sequence begged to be the successor of "Pulp Fiction" twist scene.

And yet for all its attempt to be memorable, it's very telling that the film isn't exactly well remembered and that Cameron Diaz will be more remembered for her karaoke scene that same year in "My Best Friend's Wedding". She's radiant and unbelievably sexy in the film but her character is never really inviting for empathy, from the start she acts like a spoiled rich girl which makes the appreciation of her feelings toward Robert rather problematic, it tells something that it took two angels sent from Heaven (and not good angels at that). As for Ewan McGregor, It's hard to accept a character like Robert after Renton in "Trainspotting" and his haircut was perhaps the least inspired after Al Pacino in "The Godfather Part III".

What else to say? Maybe with a different mindset and a few cans of beer, I would have enjoyed it a little more... The soundtrack is great though and the stunt work is impressive, but Boyle was so busy making something original he forgot one basic element of filmmaking: telling a compelling story. Well, maybe the story had potential... and the execution is to blame. It's good in in its entertaining way, a MTV movie award entertaining but I hope Boyle didn't aim for the Golden Palm with that?!

Once again, I rented this movie only because Ewan McGregor is in it. Man, what a disappointment. He doesn't even look that great in this movie. Its like they were going to for the David Bowie look but they forgot that David Bowie is gay (or bi or whatever, who cares).

Anyway, the story *sigh* what a mess. Apparently, the characters are *destined* to be together but unless some angels drop in to help out its not going to happen. They never say why they have to be together. Or why they won't fall in love on their own. Or why they can't fix they're problems themselves...lots of plot holes. Kinda reminds me of the plot holes in Eye of The Beholder, only at least there were *funny* moments in this movie. NOT MANY! But one or two here and there.

I wouldn't say the acting was bad. Its not like they had a lot to work with. Some of the characters I never figured out what was going on with them; like Holly Hunter's character. I know Holly Hunter can act, but her character was suppose to help these too people fall in love and she *really* wanted to kill Ewan McGregor in one particular scene. I don't know why! I wish someone would please explain it to me. I'm not sure if its the director's or the writer's fault.

Anyway, the ending... also a mess. I'm not going to spoil it for you here, but it brought corniness to a whole new level... I mean low... level... It was so bad I could have cried. At least Ewan McGregor was wearing a kilt. That doesn't make up for it too much though.

I really liked this movie in the beginning. It was a fresh start, a funny story, great actors and unusual behavior.

Never has a kidnapper been this clumsy, never a victim this sexy. I was awestruck to see Cameron doing her "we are in our honeymoon" speech at the door... wow, this smile.

But unfortunately, the end of the movie got weirder and weirder. Being shot in the heart and still to survive might be called post-modern art whatever, I just think it is junk. This movie deserved a better finale. Too bad.