PG-13 | 2h 3m | Drama, Comedy, Romance | 2025
For its first 15 minutes, this new production from writer-director Adam Brooks plays out like an unimaginative amalgam of “The Bucket List” (2007), “Ghost” (1990), and a reversal of “Terms of Endearment” (1983) by way of “Sex and the City” (2008). At first blush, it’s a morality play posing as a semi-weepy chick flick. Luckily, right at the point where many viewers will lose interest, it tosses out a series of clever plot twists.
Adapted from the Lori Nelson Spielman novel of the same name, “The Life List” opens with Alex (Sofia Carson, “Carry-On”) visiting her terminally ill mother Elizabeth (Connie Britton) in New York. Diagnosed with cancer, Elizabeth doesn’t have long to live, and within the next few minutes of the movie, she dies.
You Get Nothing, Yet
At the reading of the will, Elizabeth’s attorney Brad (Kyle Allen) informs Alex’s two brothers they’ve been left some artwork. The entire control of the company will go to one of Elizabeth’s daughters-in-law. More shocked than she is angry, Alex is left speechless. Brad hands her a folder and instructs her to open it in private.
Alex does as she’s told, and at once she is flabbergasted and befuddled. Inside the folder is a DVD with Elizabeth addressing her from beyond the grave, and a hand-written wish list of sorts Alex composed in her early teens. Without being specific, Elizabeth tells Alex that for every one of the goals from the list she achieves, she’ll be given another DVD from Brad.
Some of these wishes are innocuous and easy to do. Get a tattoo, participate in a mosh pit at a concert, and perform stand-up comedy. Others are more daunting. Make peace with her estranged stepfather Samuel (Jose Zuniga) and become a teacher, if only temporarily. It’s worth mentioning that Samuel is the biological father of Alex’s brothers.
The Right Guy?
While teaching, Alex is able to get through to a socially awkward, anti-social troubled teen who isn’t interested in being saved. It’s also during this stretch that Alex meets Garrett (Sebastian De Souza). He’s a consultant of sorts who is everything Alex thinks she wants in a man.
Garrett is erudite but not pompous and sophisticated without being a snob. He’s well-connected and appears to know everyone who is anyone in New York social circles. He’s also able to set up an accidentally on-purpose meeting between Alex and retired NBA player Patrick Ewing (as himself). This leads to another check on the list: Have a one-on-one game with a New York Knicks player.
As Alex takes care of the items on her list, she and Brad grow closer, but romance is off the table as both are currently involved with others.
It won’t take the intellect of Albert Einstein or the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes to figure out how all of this will end long before the conclusion of the second act.
Brooks will never be accused of being a brilliant filmmaker, but he knows his limitations and doesn’t try to pretend otherwise. “The Life List” isn’t groundbreaking or original, but it’s enjoyable in a watch-it-while-you’re-folding-laundry sort of way. You can miss 30 seconds and not get lost.
It’s not quite as good as “Definitely, Maybe,” a similar movie written and directed by Brooks from 2008 starring Ryan Reynolds, but it’s in the same ballpark.
Original? No
Light-hearted romantic comedies are a dime a dozen. They get a bad rap mostly because the people making them put little to no effort into coming up with anything original. The bulk of them follow a strict, unimaginative blueprint and take few narrative chances, mostly because they don’t have to. Consumers of these kinds of movies are generally easier to please.If for no other reason, Brooks and Spielman deserve bonus points for including a deceased character (Elizabeth) for the duration of the story without turning her into a ghost or a typical flashback archetype.
“The Life List” won’t change your life but neither will it feel like a waste of time. It’s not great, but it’s good enough in a pinch. You could easily do worse.
