Life or Something Like It (2002)

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writers (WGA):

John Scott Shepherd (story)
John Scott Shepherd (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 April 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

What if you only had 7 days to live?

Plot:

A reporter interviews a homeless man, who tells her that she's going to die and her life is meaningless.

Plot Keywords:

Life | Homeless Man | Interview | Reporter | Football

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Angelina Jolie	...	Lanie Kerrigan
Edward Burns	...	Pete (as Ed Burns)
Tony Shalhoub	...	Prophet Jack
Christian Kane	...	Cal Cooper
James Gammon	...	Pat Kerrigan
Melissa Errico	...	Andrea
Stockard Channing	...	Deborah Connors
Lisa Thornhill	...	Gwen
Gregory Itzin	...	Dennis (as Greg Itzin)
Max Baker	...	Vin
Andromeda Dunker	...	Mo
Jesse James Rutherford	...	Tommy
Veena Sood	...	Doctor
Eric Snellman	...	George
Theron Zahn	...	Steve

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief violence and language.

Runtime:

103 min | Argentina:105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:LH | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | USA:PG-13 (No. 38850) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:Livre | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Denmark:7 | France:U | Germany:6 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Kerry Park - 211 W Highland Drive, Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

Mark Feuerstein had been in talks to play Cal Cooper, but Christian Kane ended up playing him.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the plane is landing in NY, the voice overhead is heard saying "Laguardia International Airport". LGA is not an international airport - it's too small to handle big planes like that. Perhaps they meant to use JFK or Newark since those are the only two international airports neighboring NYC.

Quotes:

Lanie: What would you do if you only had a week to live?
Pete: I would go to all the people I care about, and I would try memorize their faces.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Carolina Rain

Confused But Watchable

LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT has a premise of reporter Lanie Kerrigan being told by a homeless man that she's going to die in a few days from now and right away I was expecting some bitter-sweet angst , a sort of present day morality tale inspired by Frank Capra and I guess very early in production this was the idea but I was left confused . Is it a redemption tale ? If so then why does Lanie start out as a not unlikable person and remain a not unlikable person throughout the movie ? You see there's little in the way of character development and the situations and soul searching never seem to draw the audience into Lanie's fears . None of this is helped Stephen Herek's shallow direction either

In short this is a shallow film but while being confused as to what it's trying to say it's also fairly watchable too . Angelina Jolie is breath takingly beautiful and in many ways she's like a female Leonardo Dicaprio in that her good looks disguise she's a much better actress than critics give her credit for and imagine how worse the movie would be if her role was taken by say Sandra Bulloch while Dave Newman's haunting score also helps the movie greatly