By Doug Levy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 23, 1997

'A life less interesting'

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Arizona Daily Wildcat Robert (Ewan McGregor) is dazzled by Celine (Cameron Diaz) in "A Life Less Ordinary."

There was a funny bit on the Conan O'Brien show the other night. See, instead of a regular studio audience, they had the whole place filled with kids. Then they brought on guests, like a financial analyst, who would obviously hold no entertainment value for the kids. Within seconds of conversation a siren went off, which was identified as the "Boredom Monster Alarm." And indeed, there was a giant hairy beast, a real-life "Boredom Monster," attempting to get into the studio. He was held off only by the heroic efforts of Conan's right-hand man, Andy Richter.

So, you may ask, why the hell am I talking about this? Well, it's because I realized something when I saw that bit, just after arriving home from a screening of "A Life Less Ordinary." I realized that the Boredom Monster was indeed real and that he had been following me that day. He had been outside the theater at the movie. Hell, he was in the theater and he was breathing down my neck.

"A Life Less Ordinary" is the third film from the writer/producer/director trio of John Hodge, Andrew Macdonald and Danny Boyle, the boys who brought us "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting." Sounds promising, doesn't it? Especially considering it also stars Ewan McGregor, Scotland's current leading man (sorry, Connery, your throne's been stolen), who was instrumental in making those other two films as great as they were.

Even the trailers made it look cool, kind of a cross between "True Romance" and "Raising Arizona," or something like that.

Basically, the rich, beautiful daughter of a wealthy industrialist is kidnapped by a former low-level employee of said industrialist as the result of a mishap involving his attempt to get his job back. However, it soon becomes clear that the daughter wanted to be kidnapped in an attempt to extort money from her nasty dad. There's a gradual role-reversal in the relationship between kidnapper and hostage, lots of ensuing action, guns, fights and comedy. Lots of comedy.

That's something to keep in mind: "A Life Less Ordinary" is a comedy. But not in the dark, fucked-up way that "Trainspotting" and "Shallow Grave" were. This is a movie that is, more often than not, just plain silly.

Example: there's something they don't tell you about in the trailers. The relationship between Robert, the kidnapper (McGregor), and Celine, the "victim" (Cameron Diaz), has all been engineered from on high. How high? Well, it all started in the "office" of the angel Gabriel, with an order to two other angels (Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo) to get the unlikely couple together. They follow Robert and Celine around, in various capacities, constantly interfering with them throughout the film. So why don't they tell you about this little twist in the ads? Because it's stupid, and they obviously know it.

The angels are hopeless bunglers - not only do most of their plans fail, they are obviously flawed from the beginning. True, Hunter may have won an Academy Award for her role in "The Piano," but here she and Lindo are reduced to vehicles for extremely slapstick, campy humor. They're almost like those guys in "Home Alone," or Wile E. Coyote, doomed to failure with the same kind of "wacky" results. If the kids are ever going to fall in love, it won't be because of them. Plus, like Wile E., they keep coming back, despite the damage they incur, albeit with bandages and bruises. These aren't invulnerable angels; they're just pretty darn resilient. They're cartoon characters, basically, and account for the cartoon feel of the film.

When the film closes with a claymation sequence at the end, it seems only natural.

If only that sequence (and the end of the movie) could have come sooner. There's a scene about halfway through the film which just is the climactic moment. It involves Robert being forced to dig his own grave, and its resolution could easily bring the story to a close. But it doesn't. The film goes on for another hour or so. Up to that point, it was at least enjoyable. After all, the actors are all excellent, and there are some great jokes and some great moments. But none of it can make up for the problems with the script. Following that scene, the Boredom Monster was sitting in my lap.

Luckily he let me share his popcorn.