Life Less Ordinary, A (UK)
A comedy for anyone who`s ever been in danger...of falling in love
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 103 mins
Retail Price: £17.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie
Synopsis:
Robert is one of life`s losers. He works as a janitor in giant corporation, but dreams of something... less ordinary.
Sharp-tongued Celine on the other hand, has never wanted for anything in her short and pampered life as the daughter of Robert`s boss, Naville. But like Robert she is bored.
In a normal life these two souls would never even meet - but who said this story was normal? Two celestial cops are given the assignment of making Celine and Robert fall in love. When two such different lives collide, sparks fly. Rather than falling in love, Robert and Celine seem to be falling apart. What more can go wrong?
Special Features:
Interviews With Cast And Crew
Behind-The-Scenes
Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1
Standard 1.33:1
Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1 German
Subtitle Tracks:
English
German
CC: English
Directed By:
Danny Boyle
Written By:
John Hodge
Starring:
Dan Hedaya
Delroy Lindo
Holly Hunter
Cameron Diaz
Ewan McGregor
Casting By:
Donna Isaacson
Soundtrack By:
Michael Stipe
Mike Mills
Noel Gallagher
Peter Buck
Bill Berry
Beck
David Arnold
Director of Photography:
Brian Tufano
Editor:
Masahiro Hirakubo
Costume Designer:
Rachael Fleming
Production Designer:
Kave Quinn
Producer:
Andrew Macdonald
Margaret Hilliard
Sophie Byrne
Your Opinions and Comments
Sometimes you need a dose of comedy. Would this fit the bill?
The Plot
Scot out of water, scraping by as a cleaner (Ewan) meets feisty but undirected rich girl (Cameron), as he fails to demand his job back. There follows a kidnapp which wasn`t at all planned, and you`re no longer sure which of them is holding the other hostage after a while. All this is part of the plot of two angels to get back into heaven after finishing their assigned task. These aren`t your regular angelic angels, they have a quota to meet! Then there is Cameron`s father, a nasty little man, and part of the reason she is not unhappy about being kidnapped.
The Cast
Ewan McGregor plays his part extermely well. Just the right amount of naivety and honour. A very likeable character.
Cameron Diaz is also very well played, and very easy on the eye.
The angels played by Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo make a great pair. I think more could have been made of their role though.
The Visuals/Audio
Transfer and audio are fine. A reasonable 5.1 track making use of the surround, though not excessively so. Unfortunately after the layer change, it caused our ageing DVD to go into stutter mode, which endded up with us having to see how it all ended by watching it on the PC. As this is the 2nd film in the last week that has suffered from this, I think its finally time to replace the old machine. Its done well, having been bought close to the start of the DVD era.
The Extras
Behind the scenes, is a really behind the scenes bit of film. Just un-commentaried clips of the making of the film.
Then there is a sort of compilation of comments and trailer, which is ok but short.
Also a collection of "interviews" with the cast and crew. Unfortunately these are lumps of dialogue just glued together. Someone has clearly just asked the person a question, which you don`t hear and then chopped out a portion of their answer. Its ok but it quickly gets tedious, and you desparately want some sort of continuity.
Summary
A nice quirky romantic comdey, very entertaining, if slightly predictable. Great for a night in, as long as your DVD player lasts the journey!