Life or Something Like It

Review by Clint Morris

Life or something like it would have to have the shortest cinema to video window I've ever witnessed. It started at the hardtop on Thursday, and by the following week the media receives the screener tape in the mail.

Ok, It’s actually released on the small screen about two months later – but even that is a tiny time span for big to small.

Having said that, most people assume I'm talking about a really appalling film, but the truth is, Life or something like it isn't that bad at all. It mightn't be a very exigent movie – that's for sure – but as a light, fluffy piece of entertainment it definitely delivers.

A cute, somewhat cheerful little comedy, Life or something like it is the latest from director Stephen Herek.

Having directed a slew of these cutesy, but far from grand films – including The Mighty Ducks and Holy Man, Herek's making a name for himself as the director for hire if your movie needs nothing more than a feisty conversion.

In the film, the usually unclothed Angelina Jolie plays a very different soul than usual.

She's a spunky, ambitious platinum-blonde journalist. While researching one of her latest direct to camera stories, she has an encounter with homeless street seer (Tony Shalhoub) who tells her she leads a pointless existence and has only one week to live.

She'd like to dismiss it, but everything else the prophet said seems to be coming true. So, almost instantaneously, our Monroe-ish broadcaster reassesses some aspects of her life – boyfriend, family, and prominently job – hoping to make the most of her last week on earth.

Preachy, but pleasurable, Life or Something Like It relies on its star power – Jolie (aberrantly fun), Ed Burns and a scene-stealing cameo by Stockard Channing – to get it through.

Its dialogue is woeful, its structure is fruitless – but all in all you'll still be seduced by it's quaint charm. And after all, Jolie looks stunning in it – and many will find that worth the price of admission alone.

3 out of 5

Life or Something Like It
Australian release: Thursday December 12
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Edward Burns, Tony Shalhoub, Christian Kane, Stockard Channing, Melissa Errico, James Gammon, Lisa Thornhill, Gregory Itzin, Max Baker.
Director: Stephen Herek.
Website: Click here

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