Since the last bucket list film was Blink, a film I was not fond of its messaging, the bar was fairly low going into The Life List for it to exceed expectations. Still, it is a Netflix release, and one that certainly doesn’t seem like it is poised for awards consideration. A lot of this has to do with Sofia Carson’s inability to land theatrical releases, and a seemingly unbreakable bond with Netflix,but Netflix also does this very well. In fact, while I can’t place the name of the film, I feel like there was a Netflix film where a young girl took a trip to Italy with her mother’s diary, after her death. So, Netflix just shuffled some elements around, plugged in reliable Sofia Carson, and hit play.
the worst thing I can say about The Life List is that it is extremely predictable. It is very surface level, with characters having rather simplistic goals, and even our title Life List never truly getting a chance to marinate. It isn’t really a spoiler, but the plot of the movie follows a young woman (Carson), whose life is upended when her mother dies of cancer, and unlike her siblings who got their inheritance, she has to follow an old wish list of things she wanted to achieve that she wrote as a kid, and never achieved. If she does, she will get her inheritance.
Along the way, this means she’ll have to read a book, play the piano, do stand up comedy, become a teacher, and find true love. That last part seems like an odd choice to thrust upon someone by the end of the year (don’t worry, momma has plans), but the film does technically give her three viable options. She can either continue to date her loser gamer boyfriend, she can pick the emotionally unavailable Brit, or she can fall for the lawyer who has a girlfriend. This film should work in her favor, for sure. Still, even though this movie makes every predictable choice, and ends exactly how I expected it to, I have to say that I did actually enjoy the watch. Sometimes fluffy formulaic movies that are easy to take are enough. I didn’t dislike any of the actors, the film is well shot and edited, and there’s a real attempt by leads Sofia Carson and Connie Britton to evoke real emotion. It certainly won’t crack your list of the best films ever, but especially if this kind of movie is your thing, I think you’ll be able to get past the idea that everything is extremely obvious, and nothing has any depth. It is the cinematic equivalent of a marshmallow. For me, I can eat one. Not a bag. not ten. but a marshmallow. Then, I need to consume other foods for weeks before a marshmallow becomes appetizing again.
The audio description here is really pretty good. It is International Digital center, and we get some solid character descriptions, even some that reference representation in the film. I knew from the minute someone was described as “tawny” that Liz Gutman was the writer. i think she’s the only writer that uses that as a shading description for skin color. It is a signature. Aside from the characters, we got a decent amount of description regarding locations, and the narrator matches the general theme of the film. She was a new name, so I didn’t grab it as quickly at the end. but, very nice voice, and perfect for this film. honestly, I have no qualms with this audio description track.
If you want something familiar, yet something you haven’t seen, the Life List feels like everything else, just rearranged to give you the appearance that you haven’t seen it before. i had a good time with it, and even though I know it is extremely derivative, I can’t ignore that I actually liked it in spite of that.
Fresh: Final Grade: B, Audio Description: A