In Life, or Something Like It Angelina Jolie returns to the screen as a reporter in Seattle trying to break into the big time by securing a spot on a national news program. She seems to have it made: she is dating a star baseball player on the Mariners, they live in a beautiful apartment, and she has her career track laid out clearly in front of her. But it just takes a little dose of good livin' provided by local boy Ed Burns, who plays the carefree cameraman at her Seattle station, to show her the errors of her ways.
After all, you can drop dead on any given day - or so goes the premise of this film. During an interview, Prophet Jack, the Nostradamus of the Seattle streets, tells Jolie that she will die in one week. After hearing his claim she is irritated but generally unfazed - until she finds out that all of Prophet Jack's other predictions end up coming true. Whether it is the scores of the night's games or where and when an earthquake will occur, he keeps on guessing right and leads her to believe that her early demise is imminent.
She decides that she needs to reevaluate her priorities, and start to live her life as though she truly is about to die in the coming days, which makes the film entertaining at certain points.
Now, American Beauty is a pretty compelling story. It knows how to make the viewer feel good about life, and to seize the day, a la Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. And, truthfully, when the very same formula is applied in other films, its feel-good aspects live on. Life takes more than a couple of tricks from American Beauty to try and remind its audience just how good life can be if one breaks free from the shackles of corporate slavery and plays hooky from work - or, dare I say, gets wasted on the job. Burns is adequate as the cameraman who serves as the catalyst for Jolie's wild and fun-loving activity in the film, and he comes through as the voice of truth and good living. But as the audience sits and watches Jolie run on the treadmill at her local gym, contemplating her fate, it becomes evident how much this scene encapsulates the film. Jolie is fun to watch, and the movie may bring up certain things that make you ponder life, but in the end the film is just running on the cinematic treadmill, and it is not taking the viewer anywhere he has not already been.
This is not to say that there are not moments of pleasure in the film - there are, but that seems to be precisely the point. There are brief stints of viewer satisfaction, but Life does not bring anything new to the table. The characters draw the viewers in to some degree, as the sexual chemistry between Burns and Jolie begins to develop, but it does not yield a very intense sense of investment. I guess it would make for a great date movie. The viewer need not pay too much attention to catch the plot, and once in a while sex makes an appearance.
This all brings to mind an article in an issue of Rolling Stone from earlier this year. Jolie was the cover starlet, and within its pages was an extensive examination of the married life of Jolie and her actor husband, Billy Bob Thornton. In the article, Jolie talks of how she and Billy Bob spend nights watching King of the Hill and laughing themselves into fits.
It may not seem entirely relevant - but her predilection for a show like this does shine through in the film. See, Life or Something Like It is a whole lot like King of the Hill. It's... adequate. It is not good, it is not bad, it just, well, is. Once in a while moments arrive when you may think, "that was somewhat funny," or "I acknowledge the humor in that scenario," but never will you actually laugh out loud. It reminds you of jokes you remember having laughed at, and shows you setups that could potentially yield good punchlines, but then never really delivers. It gives you only what you expect, and that is precisely how Life plays out.
