Life or Something Like it on DVD

by Pam Van Woerkom

Let’s take a typical romantic comedy, throw in a death theme, a blonde Angelina Jolie, and a Rolling Stones song and call it a movie.

It isn’t all bad; at least they tried to add some original ideas to an otherwise tired theme of boy meets girl.

Life or Something Like It starts off with Lanie Kerrigan (Jolie) on her deathbed. They soon introduce her as a superficial newscaster who thinks she has the perfect life. A great apartment, a great job, a baseball pro fiancé and the perfect hair. A job opportunity brings Pete (Ed Burns) into the picture as her down to earth, regular guy cameraman. But he isn't exactly the type of guy that fits into her picture perfect life.

Lanie meets a street psychic who predicts she will die within a week. Suddenly she finds herself looking at her life in a whole new light. Maybe that cute camera guy doesn’t have it so bad after all.

During the director’s commentary, Stephen Herek explains that the film was rushed and made within five weeks to avoid a pending actor’s strike. Perhaps this gives us a little insight into why this movie never quite made it. It was almost a good romance, almost a good comedy and almost a good movie. It only just barely introduced the characters before the movie was on a roll. It seemed that there were a lot of aspects of the characters’ lives they wanted us to pick up on without ever really letting you in on them.

Like the movie itself, the directing seemed a little rushed (editor’s note: but then, that may be because it was; this movie was released about seven months after Stephen Herek’s Rock Star). The majority of it seemed to be shot in long sections of dialogue with very few camera changes. Sometimes that can add to a movie, but not this one. Its one saving grace was the way they manipulated the film afterwards to add feeling and an artistic edge.

If you are in the mood for a chick flick I’d say go for it; just don’t expect an earth-moving tale that will leave an everlasting impact on your life.

The picture quality on the DVD is surprisingly good. It was very clear and the color really pops off the screen in some scenes. The sound is also pretty good, putting the Dolby 5.1 surround to good use. It helps bring the viewers into the movie. Perhaps it is because of these things that I actually enjoyed the movie, but don’t get me wrong, they don’t compensate for the lack of story.

The DVD itself is very lackluster. Although it does offer both widescreen and full screen on either side of the disc, that’s about all it offers. The only other feature is a full-length audio commentary by the director. It’s a bit dry, but also informative and actually helps you appreciate the story quite a bit more. He lets you in on a lot of those things you are just supposed to figure out about the characters.

Life or Something Like It, from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
103 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Angelina Jolie, Ed Burns, Tony Shalhoub and Stockard Channing
Produced by Arnon Milchan, John Davis, Chi-Li Wong, Toby Jaffe
Screenplay by John Scott Shepherd and Dana Stevens
Directed by Stephen Herek

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