A Big Bold Beautiful Journey review: What a mixed bag
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey has been slated by critics, but I thought that couldn’t possibly be that bad with Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell as the leads and Kogonada as the director. While it has some redeeming qualities, I have to concede that the fantasy romance drama is a disappointment.
Robbie and Farrell play Sarah and David, two singletons who hire rental cars to attend the same wedding. After the big bash, the GPS on their cars take them on a fantastical journey to various doors, which they go through and revisit pivotal moments in their lives.
This is a really weird movie and it took me a long time to warm up to it. The writing of their meet-cute is truly awful (it could have been in a Hallmark movie) and I felt so cold and unconnected to the story during the car rental and wedding sequences. The first half is rather slow and I found the first couple of doors quite boring.
Thankfully, their trips back in time become more interesting, compelling and meaningful as the film progresses. The high school musical sequence is so delightful that I immediately warmed up and there is a terrific sequence in which they have to honestly discuss their breakups with their exes, played by Billy Magnusson and Sarah Gadon (who is so good and really should be in more projects). I won’t spoil the darker, more emotional sequences, but I preferred these as the writing was significantly better and some moving moments make you think about love, family, happiness, fulfilment and purpose.
I like Robbie and Farrell as individuals but they don’t work well together. They have no chemistry and the writing around their potential romance falls flat. I preferred Farrell as he felt more like a natural fit for his character, while Robbie seemed like she was putting on a performance (at least at the beginning). I didn’t actually care if they got together and quite liked them as companions on an existential journey. Their co-stars Gadon, Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe are excellent in their small roles, though. On the flip side, I have no idea what Phoebe Waller-Bridge was doing, but I didn’t like it at all.
I have to respect A Big Bold Beautiful Journey for trying something different and being unusual and weird. But the execution doesn’t live up to the concept and that’s mostly due to the patchy writing, the pacing and the fact it feels so much longer than it is.
In cinemas now