A Life Less Ordinary Movie Review 1997

Third outing from U.K. team of Boyle/Hodge/Macdonald, who made "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting," has hapless janitor Robert (MacGrgor) lose his job, girlfriend, and home. He reacts by kidnapping the boss's daughter Celine (Diaz), who's more upset at Robert's ineptness than anything else. Meanwhile two angels (Hunter and Lindo) are sent to make these two kids fall in love. Confused? You should be. Hodge's script looks like someone threw "It Happened One Night," "Stairway to Heaven," outtakes from a Tarantino movie, and a Road Runner cartoon into a blender and hit frappe. Some of the surreal set pieces work, and the MacGregor/Diaz chemistry clicks sporadically, but the overall effect is overkill. Producer MacDonald is the grandson of Emeric Pressberger, co-director of "Stairway to Heaven."

Distribution

Fox Home Entertainment, PO Box 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213, Phone: (310)369-3900, Toll-free: 888-223-4FOX, Fax: (310)369-5811, URL: http://www.foxmovies.com/index1.html, Remarks: Also known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 103 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Screwball Comedy, Angels, Kidnapped!, Road Trip, Karaoke, Heists

Screenplay

John Hodge

Cast

Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Ian Holm, Ian McNeice, Stanley Tucci, Dan Hedaya, Tony Shalhoub, Maury Chaykin, Judith Ivey, K.K. Dodds

Cinematography

Brian Tufano

Director

Danny Boyle

Music

David Arnold

Producer

Andrew Macdonald, 20th Century-Fox