Movie #414 - A Life Less Ordinary

A Life Less Ordinary

1997 - Rated R - 1 hr 43 min
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Ian McNiece, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Ian Holm

Weird movie, this one.  Weird, but weirdly cute too. Diaz and McGregor are an unlikely pair -- although their respective hair-dos are both awesomely 90s-tastic! -- who find themselves in very unlikely circumstances. Mainly, as kidnapper and kidnappee... although it's not always clear which of them is which.

Anyway, the whole angels-meddling-in-the-business-of-love bit turns this regular rom-com into something otherworldy, full of strange scenarios where Hunter and Lindo (the love angels assigned to the couple) are either trying too hook them up or kill them.  If they don't get these two together, they're doomed to a life stuck on earth. Bummer.

There is indeed as much going on here as the above synopsis suggests, and somehow, the movie doesn't get bogged down.  The plot moves along at a good clip, with lots of great scenes, and some actually believable scenes between our young lovers.  It's cute. Weird, like I said, but cute.

Movie #302 - In Her Shoes

In Her Shoes
2005 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 10 min
Director: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine

Another book to movie, In Her Shoes is based on the best selling novel of the same title by Jennifer Weiner, a personal favorite of mine.  So I know this book well and I can honeslty say that the page-to-screen transition was not as smooth as I'd like to see.

Obviously, most of the "booky" scenes were cut out and the filmable scenes were made more "filmy."  As a stand alone piece, it's coherent and tells a very emotionally engaging story. Except for Cameron Diaz, who has the emotional engagement capacity of a dead fruit fly.  Toni Collette is great as Rose except for one minor detail: she's not overweight.  In the book and even in the movie itself, there are several references to Rose being overweight.  So there's Toni Collette saying, "Clothes don't fit right and food just makes me fatter" and you're thinking, "UM....what?!"  She could've plumped it up a bit.  Or cut the references to Rose's weight.  It's jarring how off-base the comments are, and dressing Collette in baggy clothes doesn't do enough to make you believe it.

Still, I can step back from the novel and just enjoy the movie for itself.  It's a charming story, one all sisters can find something in common with, and I do like watching it.  I prefer to read the book, but that takes longer than the 2 hours this does.