It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A life less ordinary has received many critics from people that simply didn't get it, but this is a happy and well executed movie about love and life with great performances and great humor (it is subtle, not for everyone). The theme is full of surprises and it doesn't let you get bored at any time. DannyBoyle is a great director, i like most of his movies, and in this one he got the best out of the cast and the story. It has great pace and you really get involve with them (McGregor and Diaz) and their love story. Even Holly Hunter, who I don't usually like, is very good. It's a refreshing movie that will keep you wanting to see it again and again. I know I have.

Robert Lewis's life seems to be going nowhere; he loses his janitorial job to a robot, gets dumped by his girlfriend and is evicted from his how; meanwhile Celine Naville is living a pampered life; all paid for by her father; Robert's boss. Under normal circumstances they would never even meet but what follows are not normal circumstances. Two angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, have been sent down from heaven to make sure they get together… by whatever means necessary. Robert and Celine's relationship gets off to an unusual start when he kidnaps her after confronting her father. He is possibly the world's worst kidnapper but luckily she is happy to tell him what to do for part of the ransom as she is not happy with her father's suggestion she should work for him. Her father has no intention of paying though and hires O'Reilly and Jackson, who are posing as bounty hunters, to get Celine back and kill Robert! Of course extreme circumstances start to bring them together; they might still need a push in the right direction though.Anybody who has seen director Danny Boyle's previous films featuring Ewan McGregor may be expecting lots of swearing and violence; there is some but by no means as much as this is a romantic comedy. That doesn't stop Cameron Diaz shooting her suitor in the head while emulating William Tell's famous act or Holly Hunter's O'Reilly getting crushed by a pick-up truck… then carrying on like some angelic terminator. There are plenty of laughs to be had along the way and the cast do a fine job throughout. As well as the two leads Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo are fun in their roles of the two angels and Ian McNeice is very funny playing it dead straight as the Naville's butler/enforcer! The story itself is silly but that is part of the fun. Overall this is a fun film that may be a little too quirky at times but is still worth watching.

OK you have to loose yourself a little in it. It's still a fairy tale. It involves angels coming down from heaven.Don't expect something believable and you might just enjoy this.Personally, I'm an atheist and this is one of my favourite movies of all time.Expect all the usual Danny Boyle trimmings that he's since become renowned for. Awesome cast, stunningly shot and, of course, a killer soundtrack featuring the likes of Faithless, Ash, Beck and REM.Was one of his first big screen director roles. He is quoted as saying it's one of his favourite that he directed. As it isn't one of the movies that people naturally think of when they think of his work.Give it a go. But do it with an open mind prepared to embrace an element of fairy-tale and you'll probably enjoy it.

Film4 are showing a retrospective season of Danny Boyle movies and this was my first chance to catch A LIFE LESS ORDINARY . I had thought previously THE BEACH was the big Boyle flop but that dubious accolade goes to this movie which has a woefully unfunny script which proves that if a film is good it's down to the director but if it's bad it's down to the screenwriter . 28 DAYS LATER is a rather derivative , contrived screenplay lacking in internal logic and Boyle rises far above it to construct a stylish post apocalyptic drama/horror movie . But it's easy to crank up the thrills and chills in a horror movie . With a comedy it's far more difficult because if the jokes aren't funny then the whole movie fails due to this It's not so much the jokes that are a failure , it's the whole screenplay by John Hodge . It's painfully underdeveloped and reminds you of other films that are slightly superior ones like the Charlie Sheen vehicle THE CHASE or infinitely superior ones like A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH . It's impossible to know why Hodge needed to introduce a fantasy element because the two angels could have easily have been mere mortals though perhaps that might have reminded the audience of the highly regarded Coen brothers . Ironically enough you're still reminded of the Coen brothers regardless and what good screenwriters they are . You're also reminded of those Osamond shows with their cheesy , predictable sketches contain painfully obvious punchlines . For example kidnapper and victim go in to phone box , kidnapper phones victim' s father and in a foul mouth rant describes what he's going to do with victim if he doesn't get the ransom , only to finish by saying " Oh sorry I must have dialled the wrong number " . It's not helped McGregor's natural inability to deliver a comic line and if anyone's laughing at this point they must have changed the channel Boyle is on record as saying that the film in hindsight was " A bit too zany " and it's why it led to its relative box office failure but it's failures are down to reasons I've outlined above . Boyle did make his name with the darkly comical SHALLOW GRAVE and TRAINSPOTTING so he probably wanted to let his creative hair down a bit with a broader comedy that would appeal to an American audience . It shows what a great director he is that both A LIFE LESS ORDINARY and THE BEACH were flops and he was destined for obscurity till 28 DAYS LATER came along