Dare to take 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'
I get it: You heard this movie is terrible, and going in with that in mind is a steep climb.
But maybe throw that out and consider if the latest from Kogonada ("Columbus," "After Yang") might've been more up people's alley had it arrived on Valentine's Day, perhaps with a different title. Sheesh, this is an emotionally astute drama about unpacking the forces that drive relationships, anchored by impossibly beautiful faces and actors who resist suggestion that attraction is all that's happening here. Interested now?
Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell star as Sarah and David, who meet at a wedding because two good-looking singles never meet that way in movies. But what unfolds otherwise has nothing in common with trash like "Materialists"; instead, "ABBBJ" at times feels like an "I Heart Huckabees" edition of "How I Met Your Mother" (complete with yellow umbrella), using existential playfulness to ask serious questions about the foundations of trust and connection, timing and possibility. As Sarah and David go on a whirlwind tour through their pasts, magically visualizing the experience of getting to know someone, the film is grand and theatrical and really goes for it in ways that won't be for everyone. Some may complain about the occasional clunky line ("Do you have any idea where we're headed?" "None whatsoever") or diagnose too many similar emotional beats in a row or accuse Seth Reiss' script of feeling like a relationship training program.
But "ABBBJ," which sorta resembles "Before Sunrise" traveling backward into Jesse and Celine's lives, really captures the moment and echo of being a scared kid or uncertain adult or a person drawn to another -- and the resilience it takes to learn about and move beyond yourself. What do we really understand? What can we forgive? This movie is confrontational yet generous, swoonable yet deep, which is something you can say about hardly anything anymore. To accomplish that with a delicate balance of fantasy and humor (though a few stabs at the latter fall flat) and a dedication to separating real feeling from infatuation is the type of refreshing, thought-provoking take on life as an individual and a pair that I, at least, really respond to.
It's flawed and I love it anyway, which is the point.
B+
NEW: WANT TO SETTLE A MOVIE DEBATE, TALK ABOUT '90S FAVORITES, OR EVEN HAVE YOUR SHORT HOME MOVIE REVIEWED? BOOK A VIDEO FROM MATT VIA CAMEO
ORDER “TALK ‘90S WITH ME: 23 UNPREDICTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH STARS OF AN UNFORGETTABLE DECADE”
Matt’s new book arrived Sept. 27, 2022, and Richard Roeper raves: “Matt Pais deserves four stars for reintroducing us to many of the greatly talented but often unsung heroes of 1990s film. This is a terrific read.”
ARE YOU A “SAVED BY THE BELL” FAN?
Order “Zack Morris Lied 329 Times! Reassessing every ridiculous episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’ … with stats” (featuring interviews with 22 cast members, plus the co-founder of Saved by the Max and the creator of “Zack Morris is Trash”)
GET 100 STORIES FOR JUST $4.99