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Life Itself (2018), R, ★


You know what? Honestly, I had quite a lengthy period of time to think about how to introduce this review because my experience was one of the most interesting encounters with a movie this year. Before going into this movie, all I knew was this movie was directed by Dan Fogelman, who is the creator of the multi-generational, interconnecting weeper, This is Us. I will admit that I have seen a few episodes and they were solid but definitely emotional tearjerkers so I did not continue with the show because frankly, I did not want to be on the verge of letting out my tears while and after watching every episode. So, Fogelman had something for the show. As for the movie, the experience felt like a weepy therapy session while I listen to rain pouring down and trickling as I want to confess why I'm crying: I saw a manipulative, shallow film that left me emotionless.

The movie spans several decades across continents centering on unrelated people that part of a bigger story with potentially a universal theme.

Will and Abby Dempsey (Oscar Isaac and Olivia Wilde) are a married couple who met in college. Will is an alcoholic writer who goes to therapy to see Cait (Annette Bening) ever since his wife Abby (Olivia Wilde) has left him. Abby is a Bob Dylan film and they had a dog with a name that I cannot say on this review, which I question, "Seriously, this poor dog with this terrible name? Ugh...". Abby has had a troublesome life with her parents being in a car accident and was physically and sexually abused by her Uncle Joe (Bryant Carroll). But, Will questions what went wrong.

In another timeline, Dylan (Olivia Cooke), taken in by Irwin (Mandy Patinkin) and Linda (Jean Smart), grows up being hostile. She plays in a band called PB&J as she wrote a song describing her feelings about her mother. Dylan fights with another girl, deservedly, after she was recording Dylan and a bandmate making out. Dylan sits down smoking on a joint and passes out momentarily and wakes up crying with the bus in front of her with Rodrigo (Adrian Marrero) asking her is she is all right.


This movie has an idea and a powerful theme of love in the core of the movie. The problem is the movie is a big mess. I did think that the movie is insanely and unnecessarily convoluted because it juggles our emotions to become so manipulative that the the stories intertwining become so distracting that it made me want to pinpoint what these characters have in common. Not to spoil anything, but most of the characters have something in common and have somewhat of a theme of love in coming. But, the theme of love does not show because in the beginning of the movie it jumps back and forth between Will's dumb therapy scene and Abby's love life and her abusive life that it toys with our emotions from being sad to being confused to being silly, compelling us to chuckle inappropriately.

The characters have no relevance or not interest but the cast does what they can with their characters. Usually, Oscar Isaac picks remarkable and astute scripts but here, he becomes dour and the scene between him and Annette Bening is a big flaw because Bening knows Will has lost touch with reality but does not realize he was so consumed in alcohol and drugs and leads to stupefying conclusion of that chapter. Olivia Wilde has a brief but not memorable role. Olivia Cooke seems lost in this movie, portraying a girl to be a one-dimensional rebellious young adult. I'll give Antonio Banderas credit as he actually gives the best performance of the movie and has a great monologue.

Director Dan Fogelman's movie made me sad, but not in a great way. The movie is like walking through non-stop pouring wind and rain for two hours, getting a cold and crying yourself to sleep after therapy as to the revelation as to why I was walking through the rain. Why was this movie being produced like a convoluted, manipulative toy of emotions? The movie should have played on straight-through like the structure from the solid The Place Beyond the Pines and without the narration from Samuel L. Jackson. There's no truth in the depth of the characters, the stories are unfortunately clunky and dour, the male and female characters are written as one-note and the passing of time is a bit illogical if you think about it, producing an epilogue that is annoying. I hated this movie. This is one of the worst movies of 2018. And, I think writing this review was excellent therapy for me so as Alex said from the ending of A Clockwork Orange, "I was cured all right."


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