Jump to content

A Life Less Ordinary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 212.140.128.142 (talk) at 11:36, 29 June 2009 (→‎Synopsis). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Two other uses

A Life Less Ordinary
Movie poster
Directed byDanny Boyle
Written byJohn Hodge
Produced byAndrew Macdonald
StarringEwan McGregor
Cameron Diaz
Holly Hunter
Delroy Lindo
Ian Holm
Dan Hedaya
Maury Chaykin
Ian McNeice
Tony Shalhoub
Stanley Tucci
CinematographyBrian Tufano
Edited byMasahiro Hirakubo
Music byDavid Arnold
Distributed by20th Century Fox (USA)
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (UK)
Release date
24 October 1997
Running time
103 mins
CountriesUK
USA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12,000,000 (estimated)

A Life Less Ordinary is a 1997 romantic/black comedy film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Boyle and John Hodge. Following the international success of Trainspotting, Hodge and Boyle sought to use funding from Channel 4 to make a film that would appeal to a U.S. audience, but this follow-up proved something of a mis-fire[1].

It stars Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, and Delroy Lindo. Unusually, the film was serialised as a full-length comic strip within leading British comic 2000 AD, written by then-editor David Bishop and drawn by Steve Yeowell - the first film to receive such treatment in Britain for almost a decade.

Synopsis

The film starts in Heaven, designed as a typical police headquarters. Gabriel (The head of police and played by Dan Hedaya) Walks past two angel cops called O'Reily and Jackson, played by Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo respectively. When having walked into Gabriels office they start to talk about the problems "down below" on earth and how the eternal bliss of marriage today has been tainted by divorce and unhappiness. Gabriel the says how "The boss" has made new plans to try and get angels to help people stay in eternal bliss and if those people do not stay in love, the angels shall stay on earth forever. After opening the file O'Reily and Jackson have to work on, the scene cuts to them looking shocked and Scared and then cuts to the swimming pool where Celine, Cameron Diaz, is swimming.

After getting out, Celine shows her gun skills by shooting an apple off of her butlers head. Meanwhile her want to be lover, Elliott (Played by Stanley Tucci), shows and says "Do you know how hard it is to find a good husband in this town, let alone a good dentist", his profession being dentistry. He then goe s and show that he is not a coward a gives her the deal that if he allows Celine to shoot an apple of his head, she has to marry him. Subsequently he chickens out of this but she shoots whilst he does this, leaving him screaming on the floor and the apple still whole.

Next we meet Robert who is a cleaner at Celine's Father's place of Work and we find that he is to be fired and to be replaced by a robot, whilst he is in the course of writing a novel. Later, when he has left work, he goes to see his girlfriend who has decided to leave him for a gym instructor. We then cut to his home where he goes to bed and we see a clo9se up of his heart being broken by a make believe bullet.

Next Day Jackson and O'Reily come to his house on the pretence that they are there to evict him from his property as he not paid his bills. He agrees to leave but then decides to confront Celine's father, his boss, and say that he wants his job back. He does this at Gun point. Just before he goes to confront him, celine is talking to him and he is saying that he is going to force her to work, under his direct supervision after the event with Elliott the day before. As Robert fails to secure his job back, he is overwhelmed by six guards and a gun falls out of one of their holsters and stops at Celine's feet. Robert reaches out for it and Celine, deliberately, kicks it over to him. He then takes Celine hostage after accidentely shooting her Dad in the foot.

They go to the desert where Robert Ties her up. The next day she escapes and she decides to stay with robert as she feels that she couldmake loads of money with her Dad paying for her, her having been kidnapped and taken hostage once before.

O'Reily and Jackson go to Celine's Dad, now under the pretence that they are Bounty Hunters and say they can find her daughter for the fee of $200,000. A stranger comes to their door and asks what they are doing in the middle of nowhere. Celine answers and says that Robert is Ritchie van de Low who is world famous as a pop singer. Meanwhile Robert calls Celines Father, Many times, and asks for a ransom to be left in a car on a road 5 miles away. Robert goes to the car and finds a bomb in the boot of it. When the Bomb strikes 0, nothing happens. He finds that instead of the money he had previously asked for, there are only carrots. The car is then shot at and he makes his escape by driving away and then giving his car to a stranger who he orders to drive away. O'Reily and Jackson get out to see the stranger in the Car Robert has given away to say "Just remember, the Car is stolen"

After this, Robert decides to take Celine out for a drink where Celine asks to drink shots, and if she can drink the shots the fastest, she can go free. She wins but, again, she decides to stay with Robert and get the $2,000,000 they have ordered. After thios the stranger they were talking to says that Ritchie van de Low is in the pub and that he should do Karioke" for them. Both Robert and Celine start singing "Somewhere, beyond the Sea" and after this Robert dreams of himself on a game show where his life is in danger. Celine and Robert seemingly have sex that night.

The next day Robert sends a letter written in Celine's blood to meet them with the $2,000,000. Robert and Celine steal a car and Robert ties Celine up to wait for Jackson and O'Reily. Jackson comes to give the money in a car and Robert hands over Celine but shoots the car Jackson was driving and deflates the tyres. O'Reily islying in the road half a mile away pretending to be dead so Robert will stop. He does stop and they are captured and Robert is told to dig himself agrave whilst O'Reily looks after Celine. Celine over powers O'Reily and Celine smashes a shovel over Jacksons head. Then Celine and Robert run away to the car, to discover that O'Reily is trying to kill them. They smash into a rock where O'Reily is seemingly crushed but a close up reveals that O'Reily's fingers are still moving. Celine and Robert run away to a Gas garage where they find out that Celine's dad has cancelled her credit cards.

Celine is furious and goes to a bank where she robs it with the Help of Robert. After leaving the bank they kiss but robert sees the future where Celine is shot and so he takes her place and gets shot in the leg. Celine then takes him to Elliott, the dentist, where the bullet is removed and Celine and Robert leave but as Celine has been flirting with elliott, Robert leaves.

Jackson then writes a poem for Celine from Robert. She receives it and loves it and then goes to Robert where she finds out that he did not write it. She leaves upset and then Jackson and O'Reily catch her, with obert following them.

The next day Robert finds them and says that he loves Celine and That he has spent some of the most amazing times with her ever. Her father shows up and Celine's Butler shoots O'Reily and Jackson in the head. After doing this, Celine's father asks for the $2,000,000 that he sent to Robert back, which is still in the car that crashed with O'Reily in it.

After getting an axe and having Celine locked in the boot, Celine's Father orders his Butler to kill Robert.

Meanwhile Gabriel is on the phone to "the Boss" to interveen with matters "Downstairs" on Earth and says "With all due respect, nothing is impossible for you to do". At this point the stranger who was talking to Robert as Ritchie van de Low opens the boot of the car and frees Celine and the corpses of O'Reily and Jackson start to twitch, agitating Celine's father and causing Robert's impending doom to take a liottle while longer.

Celine then comes to the door with a gun and her father says "Put the gun down, you are in shock. I am going to get you the best help that money can by. Just put the gun down ... why are you not putting the gun down?", to which she replies "Because as he dreamt (on the quiz mentioned earlier) i shall save his life with an arrow, an arrow of my love for him." Celine then orders the Butler, Mayhew, to kill Robert. Celine then fires the gun directly at Roberts heart. We see the Bullet go through his heart, as we did when he was heart broken by his ex-girlfriend. But this time, instaed of the heart shattering, there is only a hole in it, like Cupid's arrow gone through it. Mayhew, the Butler, who was about to kill Robert was standing behind him and so took the bullet in his chest. Robert's wound could be a reflection of Christs Stigmata, but that is another thing.

The film concludes with Celine and Robert talking to each other and asking the question "Is love just an emotional answer to a physical necessity, or are relationships made in heaven?". They both agree on the second and they walk out of the diner that Robert has been working at as a married couple.

By Josh O'Donovan

Supporting Cast

Soundtrack

References

  1. ^ Life Less Ordinary boxoffice / business at IMDb

External links

Template:Box Office Leaders

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Life_Less_Ordinary&oldid=299293059"