Life Itself Review

Life Itself is not without its moments, but overall is a giant mess. This movie is about a young couple’s journey and the effect their lives have through multiple generations. Oscar Isaac gives a really good performance. We are given just enough information about him to care about his character. Olivia Wilde gives a great performance. She has fantastic chemistry with Isaac and you care about them. Olivia Cooke gives a bad performance. However, the script gives her nothing to work with. Mandy Patinkin gives a really good performance. Annette Bening gives a decent performance in a small side role. Antonio Banderas and Laia Costa give  great performances. All the scenes they share with each other are highlights. Sergio Peris-Mencheta gives a decent performance. However, his work is held back by the script. Alex Monner also gives a good performance in a smaller role. Dan Fogelman’s direction is fine, though a few choices are baffling. Fogelman’s script is where the issues with this movie begin. The script is extremely cluttered, not spending enough time on certain moments and far too much time on things that do not matter. The storyline is extremely emotionally manipulative. It goes for shock every chance it can. While some of these moments are effective, a few are laughably bad. Also for a story where everything is supposed to connect at the end, he stretches believability to make that happen. The editing here is some of the worst I have witnessed this year. It is extremely choppy and makes the timeline even more confusing than it already is. At 118 minutes this movie feels way longer than it is. At the same time, it is nowhere near long enough to tell the story it is attempting to. Overall Life Itself is filled with so much potential, but fails upon delivering outside of the rare moment that works.

5/10