An imaginative tale of two strangers and the unbelievable journey that connects them.
Chuck says:
I approached Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey with a healthy amount of skepticism. With one foot in the real world and the other firmly planted in the fantastical, my guard was up for something that labored to be whimsical or a film that revolved solely around its gimmick. Imagine my surprise when I found myself laughing at its genial, genuine humor and charmed by its two leads and their deft touch. Imagine my disappointment as I watched it self-destruct during its third act, becoming a laborious, melodramatic exercise right before my eyes.
The couple at the center of this romance consists of David and Sarah (Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, respectively), who, despite their put-together appearances, are two severely damaged people. Little do they know their paths are about to cross, thanks to a rental car company that’s a front for a celestial agency that specializes in tinkering with people’s fates. This outfit specializes in nudging people in the right direction towards happiness through a series of magical therapy sessions.
Individually, David and Sarah are headed to the same wedding. They each experience car trouble and wind up at a vast warehouse containing two cars, two people (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller Bridge) behind a table and a couple of workers moving variously shaped doors about. (If your mind turns to Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. when seeing this, join the club.) The auto each is given is so old it lacks modern conveniences. As such, each is required to rent a GPS that winds up having a mind of its own, directing them to “randomly” meet after the wedding and travel together.
What ensues is a journey in which each is taken to doors that have been haphazardly placed along a circuitous route. They might be found in a perhaps a forest or field and when they pass through them, it leads them back to key moments in their lives. One takes David back to his high school on the evening his heart is broken by his first love. Another transports Sarah to the hospital to the day in which her mother dies alone. It’s hoped that with experience and hindsight, each will be able to learn from these do-overs, heal themselves and go on to lead more fulfilling lives, perhaps together.
Premises such as these are tricky to pull off but at the start, Journey works. Seth Reiss’ humorous script is filled with sly winks to the audience which creates a conspiratorial bond between the viewer and the filmmakers. It’s as if they’re saying that while the conceit is hooky, it’s the lessons that are learned that’s important.
That the film suddenly changes the rules is the first sign of trouble. Instead of being his younger self when they pass through the magical portals, suddenly David finds himself in the role of his father addressing his 17-year-old self. Scenes in which the couple are alone on a vast stage, as if rehearsing the scenes they’re about to find themselves in also prove jarring. What with a character proclaiming earlier that, “Sometimes we have to perform to get to the truth,” this comes off as a heavy-handed attempt to drive that home. Granted, Kogonada and Reiss make it known early on that anything goes where the various realities they share with us are concerned, yet these sudden shifts yank us out of the story, a fatal mistake with a premise as fragile as this.
You’d be hard-pressed to find two more appealing performers than Farrell and Robbie and it’s their mutual charisma and combined chemistry that keeps us hooked. You can see them together as a couple and being veteran performers, they’re each capable of subtly conveying the vulnerability that lies beneath their movie-star looks. Their presence makes this a pleasant journey, even though the outcome disappoints.
As for the final half hour, the movie slows to a crawl as David and Sarah respectively go through their final doors. While the dramatic stakes for each are high, the resolution of each seems a bit too pat. More troubling is the prolonged nature of these denouements, the snail-like pace of each robbing them of dramatic heft, the final revelations landing with a thud.
During Journey’s first hour, I laughed repeatedly, marveled at the witty banter that ensued between Farrell and Robbie and was charmed by their acting and the lessons David and Sarah were learning. For the most part, I liked the movie I was watching. Ironically, for a film that’s ultimately more about its characters’ destination than their journey, it ended up leaving me feeling stranded and adrift.
2 1/2 Stars
Pam says:
There’s something magical about a film that trusts its audience to embrace the fantastical while diving deep into the most human of experiences. “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is exactly that kind of cinematic experience – a whimsical yet profound exploration of love, regret, and the courage it takes to truly see ourselves. Director Kogonada has crafted something that feels both intimate and universal, a story that begins with the simple premise of two strangers meeting at an out-of-town wedding and evolves into something far more extraordinary. David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) find themselves at the same bizarre car rental agency, both handed keys to identical 1994 Saturns – complete with no modern technology – by the delightfully eccentric agents played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kevin Kline. What starts as a quirky meet-cute quickly transforms into something much deeper when their GPS begins guiding them not just through physical landscapes, but through the emotional terrain of their respective pasts.
The genius of this film lies in how it balances its fantastical elements with genuine emotional weight. When David and Sarah begin walking through literal doors to their past experiences, the concept could easily feel gimmicky or overly precious. Instead, Kogonada treats these moments with the reverence they deserve, understanding that confronting our choices – the roads taken and not taken – is perhaps the most courageous thing any of us can do. The film doesn’t shy away from the heavy stuff: death, heartbreak, disappointment, and the ways we sometimes become people we never intended to be. Yet there’s a lightness to the storytelling that prevents it from becoming oppressive. At times, the film feels like a stage production with its theatrical flourishes and symbolic imagery, while at others it embraces the whimsy of a fairy tale where anything seems possible.
Colin Farrell delivers a nuanced performance as David, a man clearly carrying the weight of past decisions. There’s a vulnerability in his portrayal that feels completely authentic – he’s not playing a character so much as inhabiting a real person grappling with real regrets. Farrell has always been at his best when given material that allows him to explore emotional complexity, and this role gives him ample opportunity to showcase his range. Margot Robbie matches him beat for beat as Sarah, bringing both strength and fragility to a character who could have easily become a manic pixie dream girl in less capable hands. Instead, Robbie creates a fully realized woman with her own agency, her own pain, and her own journey toward self-discovery. The chemistry between them feels genuine and earned, never forced or manufactured for the sake of the romantic plot.
What elevates this film beyond a simple love story is Kogonada’s restraint and trust in his material. The director, known for his contemplative approach to filmmaking, allows the story to breathe and the characters to develop organically. Most importantly, he resists the urge to overwhelm the narrative with an intrusive musical score – a choice that allows the emotional moments to land with genuine impact rather than manufactured sentiment. The 1994 Saturns become characters in their own right, symbols of a simpler time when we weren’t constantly connected to the digital world, forcing David and Sarah to be present with each other and with their own thoughts. By the film’s end, we understand that life’s journey isn’t always bold or beautiful, but it’s ours to make, and sometimes love appears in the most unexpected places when we’re finally ready to see it.
3 Stars
