‘The Life List’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - Fine Actors, Nothing Else

You know a film is in trouble when it uses lachrymose crutches to sell mediocre ideas to the audience. Adam Brooks' The Life List, based on the novel of the same name by Lori Nelson Spielman, assembles a fine cast and then reduces them to cute little puppets whose main job is to evoke reactions like, "How sweet!" and "Aww!" The fact that all the actors manage to keep up their self-respect even after going through rote sentimental routines and lines only tells you that they all deserve to act in better material. Actors like Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, and Connie Britton infuse traces of warmth and truth into the film's emotional mood. Without them, the sentimental scenes could have sounded false. In the hands of bad actors, The Life List could have easily collapsed. The actors are beautifully synchronized with each other - everybody performs at the same frequency, at the same pitch, at the same level. The Life List's main strength is that it has thespians who know what kind of performance a film like this requires. And boy, I would be lying if I said that I didn't buy every cute, corny line that was delivered by the characters.

But this is where I part ways with Brooks' romantic comedy-drama. Apart from the performances, there is nothing worth admiring here. There is a nice, cruel transition early in the film where we first see Alex (Carson) lying on the bed with Elizabeth (Britton), her mother, and then the image slowly alters itself to show Alex lying alone on the bed. The suggestion is utterly clear - Elizabeth is dead. It's a fairly powerful scene, though it does feel out of place in a film where a willy joke is clumsily executed. Alex and her boyfriend, Finn (Michael Rowland), make a deal that if they end up feeling bored at the family get-together, they will use sign language to tell each other to come to Alex's room for sex. Finn arrives first and starts to undress himself. A guest, meanwhile, hijacks Alex, and then two kids run towards Alex's room, and when they open the door, they find Finn naked. This moment should have comically exploded, but Brooks quickly dampens the humor. It's a strange decision. Anyway, The Life List offers you some surprises during the will-reading scene through Alex's reaction. When she complains to the lawyer that she is angry that her mother didn't leave her with any materialistic property or object, you feel a little shocked because you expect Julian (Federico Rodriguez) to give such a reaction. This doesn't mean The Life List paints Alex with gray shades - this rom-com doesn't dare to go that far. The ranty outburst is immediately and neatly labeled as "pain arising from great sadness and depression."

Elizabeth, however, has left something for Alex. It's the titular life list, which Alex wrote as a teenager. Elizabeth wants her favorite daughter to step outside her comfort zone. She knows Alex won't be happy running the cosmetics business, which is why one of the things the list asks her to do is become a teacher. Alex is apparently very passionate about this profession, but the movie never spends more than two minutes inside the class with her students. She also gets one of those "troubled teenagers" who doodles in his notebook and displays no interest in his lessons. How does Alex win his respect and attention? She gives him an art book and a DVD of Hamlet, which he throws outside in the rain in front of her. Seeking help, Alex turns to the school counselor, but aside from suggesting she treat the student like a cat, he offers no real solutions. The healing of this student-teacher bond occurs offscreen, which only renders this thread disposable. And if that counselor offers no genuine support, that's because The Life List turns him into Alex's boyfriend. He is Garrett (Sebastian de Souza), and he first meets Alex on the metro, where they see each other as strangers. Later, when they encounter one another at school, it becomes clear that The Life List is going to be frivolous.

This bubblegum of a rom-com is devoid of sharp edges. Like the mending of that student-teacher relationship, Alex's piano practice and the work done to locate her real dad also mostly occur outside the gaze of the camera. Hence, these things, too, appear weightless, inconsequential, and trivial. The Life List, however, employs a clever trick to sell these trifling elements: Time jumps. The texts - the name of the ongoing month - indicate that the Alex you are watching currently is different from the Alex you saw in the previous scene. The film might have briefly shown her playing the piano in, say, March, but now, it's, um, August, so she has learned the desired song. It all sounds good in theory. On the screen, however, The Life List still comes across as insignificant. Its celebration of maudlin mediocrity is evident through the "video recordings on DVDs" device, which gives rise to that scene where Alex finally appears on the TV with her mother. The Life List unashamedly attempts to squeeze your tear ducts. I hate such melodramatic practices - they leave a sour taste in my mouth.

I find myself quite disenchanted with films that softly cradle the audience, steering clear of bold narratives as if the director believes that movies should leave everyone glowing with cheerful smiles on their faces. One of the tasks on the list involves finding true love before the New Year. Why can't true love be found in a job? If you enjoy, let's say, coding so much that you can't live without it for even a day, let alone a few hours, isn't that also true love? Why restrict the concept of true love exclusively to romantic relationships? I think I might have respected The Life List if Alex and Brad (Allen) had remained best friends. To convert them into romantic partners, the film hits Alex with two breakups. Brooks basically fulfills the expectations of a pre-programmed audience. By cuddling the average Netflix viewer, the director further diminishes their intelligence. Perhaps Brooks should consider making a life list of his own and include "Make Intelligent Films" as one of the tasks.

Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times