Life or Something Like It (2002)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Romantic comedy starring Angelina Jolie. A Seattle TV reporter, Lanie Kerrigan(Jolie), should be happy with her life. The platinum blonde charmer has looks to die for and is married to the most popular of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, Cal Cooper(Christian Kane). In preparation for an interview for a morning show job in New York City, she is teamed with a past emotional interest, cameraman Pete(Edward Burns). Lanie does an on the street interview with a homeless man, Prophet Jack(Tony Shaloub), who predicts she is going to die within a week. When his other forecasts turn out true; Lanie must decide if her life has had any meaning at all. Supporting cast includes; Melissa Errico, James Gammon and Stockard Channing.It takes a while to get use to Jolie as a blonde...its really not that damn hard to do. My favorite scene is where she is having batting practice and breaking up with her husband. Something about that batting helmet and flowing platinum blonde locks. And how many times does she have to ask "are you trying to have sex with me"? Hello, cold sweat.

LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT has a premise of reporter Lanie Kerrigan being told by a homeless man that she's going to die in a few days from now and right away I was expecting some bitter-sweet angst , a sort of present day morality tale inspired by Frank Capra and I guess very early in production this was the idea but I was left confused . Is it a redemption tale ? If so then why does Lanie start out as a not unlikable person and remain a not unlikable person throughout the movie ? You see there's little in the way of character development and the situations and soul searching never seem to draw the audience into Lanie's fears . None of this is helped Stephen Herek's shallow direction either In short this is a shallow film but while being confused as to what it's trying to say it's also fairly watchable too . Angelina Jolie is breath takingly beautiful and in many ways she's like a female Leonardo Dicaprio in that her good looks disguise she's a much better actress than critics give her credit for and imagine how worse the movie would be if her role was taken by say Sandra Bulloch while Dave Newman's haunting score also helps the movie greatly

I don't understand why some people trash this movie so viciously. It really isn't much different from all the other romantic comedies that come out. I enjoy the main actors - Jolie, Burns, and Shaloub - and each does a fine job with the roles they play.In the flashback intro we see that Lanie (Angelina Jolie) was a cute little girl but with thick frame glasses so the boys tended to ignore her. So she focused her energy into an ambition to rise to the top in broadcasting. She is one of several candidates for a NYC job, and a chance to move out of small-time Seattle TV.She is required to work with cameraman Pete (Ed Burns), an old boyfriend who still shows an interest. Together they encounter Prophet Jack (Tony Shaloub) who stands on a plastic milk crate on the busy sidewalk and makes proclamations. That day he predicted the score of a game, that it would hail the next morning, and that Lanie would die in 7 days.Lanie is shocked when the first prediction comes true, then further afraid when it is hailing the next morning. Not wanting the death prediction to come true, she tries hard to prove that not all Prophet Jack's predictions come true. But he says they do, he just hears the message and repeats it.MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW. Lanie and Pete get close again, then he is devastated when she is picked for the NYC job and she just plans to leave him in Seattle. While there, and doing a very successful interview with popular journalist Deborah Connors (Stockard Channing), she comes to realize the folly of her selfish dream, and a little bit of her dies that day, 7 days after the prediction. So, while she didn't physically die, the ugly part of her died.

Ignore all the bad reviews about this film because in my opinion it was really good! A sweet, easy to follow story, very enjoyable if you just want to sit and watch a film where you don't have to burst your brains trying to work out what the hell is going on. This film is simple but effective. Angie is brilliant as usual and puts on a convincing performance, although this character is different to those she has played in the past I think she pulls the 'blonde' reporter off very well. It is interesting to a person, as you see Lainy(Jolie), go through a dramatic change of life. This film may not be your complicated arty farty 'Lord of the Rings' type film, but I give it full marks!