One of those stories whose moral goes something like “stop and smell the roses” or “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it”. That’s sounds pretty dismissive, doesn’t it? Actually, the movie’s details play out better than that.
Angelina Jolie, she of the Mick Jagger lips, plays Lanie, a TV reporter in Seattle. She’s on her way to the big time, which would be a national show called “AM U.S.A.” or some such made-up thing. The beginning of this movie put me in the “eye roll” mode because I’m tired of movie writers doing “inside TV stuff” because we’re all so interested, aren’t we? The truth is, that’s all many of them really know enough about to write a whole movie plot. There’s Lanie, with her phony hair and big plastic smile looking just like one of the reporters we see right here in L.A. So, now you’ll get to see what really goes on.
And, it’s all obvious right from the start. Lanie is secretly unhappy with her ‘wanna-be” position in life. From her job to her relationship with her father and her sister to her boyfriend, it’s all a façade. But enter Pete, played by Edward Burns. He’s a hotshot cameraman who has left a big time job in New York and looks to be the polar opposite of Lanie. There’s some kind of history between the two of them and it gets nasty right from the start, but we all know, in the end, opposites attract, don’t they?
If it sounds like I’m putting this movie down, I mostly am doing just that. But I have to say this is one of the rare times I felt the writing came out on top of the acting and way ahead of the premise. When Lanie and Pete first do battle, the insults fly and they’re pretty good. In fact, it’s plain that Lanie is way more than the “bubble-headed bleach blond “ she’s supposed to be on-camera. We spend so much time watching her life off-camera, and she’s so introspective, it’s hard to believe she could ever have such a shallow life.
This movie is no comedy despite those witty exchanges mainly because Lanie believes she’s going to die next Thursday. That causes her to have this whole life reevaluation, but I stick with my earlier opinion which is she seems too smart and sensitive to have ever been stuck in that fake TV world in the first place. Oh, and by the way, the belief that she’s going to die comes from your basic homeless street physic, played by Tony Shalhoub. How annoying – he’s quick witted, insightful. His only real problem seems to be that he’s plagued by random visions of the future. It looks like all he needs is a shower and he’s fine. Aren’t the homeless always so noble and just misunderstood in the movies?
“Life Or Something Like It” is fine when you listen to the words, just try to ignore all the dopey people in it, and the reason they’re all in it. Does that make any sense? I give it a “5.0” on the scale.
