Life Itself Review: A slow and sappy slog through every emotionally manipulative device known to filmkind

Amazing the cred and license you’re granted when you’re intricately involved in a network mega-hit like This Is Us. Dan Fogelman, writer, director and executive producer of the aforementioned NBC drama series, has taken his slick and soapy sensibilities back the the big screen where he came from (wrote animated features including Cars, Cars 2, Tangled, Bolt and the live action Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,  among others) to make the film Life Itself, and the results are jaw dropping. But not in a good way.

Directing from a script he also wrote, Fogelman was able to entice A-List talent like Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Isaac and Mandy Patinkin, plus a pair of fresh and talented Olivias: Wilde and Cooke, all who have heretofore made thoughtful choices. Perhaps they weren’t presented with the opportunity to read the entire script, or maybe said script was re-written after they’d signed on. In any case, if they’d even caught the slightest whiff of how this film was going to turn out, they likely would have passed on it quicker than Aunt Olga’s sauerkraut pie.

The story follows three generations of remarkably good-looking yet tragedy-stricken romantics, all just oozing sap and saturated with equal parts of melancholia and angst. Their pain is punctuated by a few excruciating spurts of violence, and there are numerous flashbacks, ala This is Us, that tend to spiral the story backward, rather than move it forward.

Oh there are a few moments of levity, in the form of an adorable dog named “F___ Face,” and an elaborate abortion prank. Ha Ha.

With almost every tragic manipulation known to filmkind, including suicide, betrayal, cancer, getting hit by a bus—even a doggy death, Life Itself  is a lot of overblown effort for very little payoff. You’re better off accidentally watching the excellent Roger Ebert documentary of the same name.

Rated R

1 Hour 57 Minutes

After reading this Life Itself review you still want to see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Life Itself Review — A slow and sappy slog through every emotionally manipulative device known to filmkind