It’s beautiful, but not big or bold enough.
As I begin to watch “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” I see Colin Farrell as David finding out his car has been booted, and needs to rent a car in order to get to a friend’s wedding. He goes to this place called “The Rental Car Agency,” which looks and acts like it’s a big fan of Wes Anderson movies. There’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge using a German accent and Kevin Kline talking like he has a soar throat, both of whom are sitting at a table as if they were hosting acting auditions. Especially since they have a picture of David, which he never took.
Then, David gets the car with the GPS being provided by Jodie Turner-Smith, and he makes it to the wedding where he meets Margot Robbie as Sarah, who also got the rental car with the GPS. Are these two meant to be? I suppose that’s what the movie is supposed to tell us. Even she asks him if he’d marry her.
After the wedding, the GPS asks him if he wants to go on “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” and yes, the GPS is talking to him. His answer is “Yes! I want to go on a Big Bold Beautiful Journey!” That’s when he reunites with Sarah, whom the GPS tells him to invite her on his journey (I’m not going to keep saying: “Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” except when I’m talking about the title of this movie).
Throughout their trek, they find many doors, which don’t lead them to Chicken Jockeys or Cheshire Cats, but to lighthouses, art museums, and even moments in their pasts. Okay, now this is a fantasy.
They both have their reasons for their relationship statuses being single, and they both regard cynicism. She says she cheats, while he says the old: “I just haven’t found the right one.” You bet he hasn’t. Or maybe he has, but she turned him down.
Now, I’m wondering that maybe Farrell and Robbie should have had Wes Anderson guide their story, instead of Kogonada. Or maybe they should have both turned to Celine Song, who delighted us last summer with “Materialists.” He’s a visionary filmmaker, who wisely collaborated with Farrell and Turner-Smith before in “After Yang,” but his latest movie has no sense of direction. Just cynicism, “Back to the Future” esque scenes when David mentions Jason Bourne’s name in the early 90s, and corny dialogue. In fact, this might be Farrell’s corniest movie of the genre of fantasy, drama, and romance since “Winter’s Tale.”
We also get cameos from the likes of Hamish Linkater, Billy Magnussen, Lily Rabe, and Sarah Gadon, but they don’t really deliver on the genre. There are moments of sentimentality regarding David that are honest, but there are moments of great cynicism regarding Sarah. Will she destroy his life with her infidelity? Or does he really believe they can overcome things?
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is Robbie’s first movie role since “Barbie,” which had a stronger voice than this movie does. And there’s one scene when these two potential lovers (as we would like to call them at this point) climb a hill and look down at what appears to be Earth. And one of them asks: “Are we looking down at ourselves?” It almost feels like these two people know what’s going on, but it all seems so hokey.
If this is basically a time travel movie, then it should delve deep into the character’s past, instead of making them appear as kids and teens towards their parents and teachers. And for some reason, David’s mother (Jennifer Grant) thinks he’s his father (Linklater). Can somebody please explain this movie to me?
