A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Upon being fired, a desperate guy kidnaps a daughter of his former boss. Two angels are sent to Earth to check if love is possible in this case.

Director:

Danny Boyle

Writer:

John Hodge

Stars:

Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor, Holly Hunter

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Holly Hunter	...	O'Reilly
Delroy Lindo	...	Jackson
Dan Hedaya	...	Gabriel
Cameron Diaz	...	Celine
Ian McNeice	...	Mayhew
Ewan McGregor	...	Robert
Frank Kanig	...	Ted
Mel Winkler	...	Frank
Anne Cullimore Decker	...	Ms Gesteten
Stanley Tucci	...	Elliot
K.K. Dodds	...	Lily
Tony Shalhoub	...	Al
Ian Holm	...	Naville
Christopher Gorham	...	Walt
Maury Chaykin	...	Tod

Storyline

Ewan McGregor stars as a cleaning man in Los Angeles, who takes his boss' daughter hostage after being fired and replaced by a robot. Two "angels", who are in charge of human relationships on Earth, offer some unsolicited help to bring this unlikely couple together.

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Plot Keywords:

angel | hostage | kidnapping | robot | janitor | 

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Taglines:

A twisted love story from the filmmakers of "Trainspotting".

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The overhead shot, when Robert is pulling the bag of money along the road with rope, was computer generated.

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Goofs

When O'Relly is paying off the hiker/car-jacker, she says "Here's $40." She hands him six bills. The top three are 20s (one of which you can see the bottom of the bill if not its digit in the corner), the next is a 10, then a 5 and on the bottom another 10. $85 in total.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Man: [v.o] So, here's the deal. We are in the garden, right? And everything is great. And there's this tree. And the man says, "Ooh, see that tree? "Don't eat the fruit of that tree. "That apple you do not eat." He goes inside, names some animals - maybe takes a dump. Anyway,what does she do? She eats the apple! I can't believe what I'm seeing! He says, "Don't eat it!" She eats it! Unbelievable! Since then, men,women... I don't know. It's all going wrong!

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Crazy Credits

When the preciding footage ends, it's followed by claymation animation containing the principal characters of the film engaged in further adventures.

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Connections

Referenced in Sean Bradley Reviews: Breathe (2017)

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Soundtracks

A Life Less Ordinary
Written by Tim Wheeler (as T. Wheeler)
Published by Island Music Ltd.
Performed by Ash
Courtesy of Infectious Records Ltd.

User Reviews

If You Get It, Its Amazing, If Not, Its Not

I remember seeing A Life Less Ordinary back in the late 1990s with high expectations as Trainspotting was one, and still is, one of my all time favorite films. What I got was a different film, but not in a bad way. It was fun and very different from anything else that came out around that time. But the funny thing was that after I saw it I kept thinking about it, little things; lines and camera shots that stuck in my head. By the time I watched it again, a week or so later, it was like the film was an old friend. There is a charm in every scene of A Life Less Ordinary and if you are able to pick up on it the film is a great experience. People I know are split on the film, most think its just OK. Although I enjoy ALLO its not perfect, some parts don't work very well and come across as corny, but the good, my man Ewan is just great as the lovable loser, far outweighs the bad and thats why it has a place in my film collection.

no quote

(This review was originally written by a man but then a robot replaced him.)

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Life Less Ordinary

Filming Locations:

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,007,279, 26 October 1997

Gross USA:

$4,366,722

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,366,722

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, Figment Films, Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1