By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Streaming has turned countless theatrical bombs into hits, but it’s hard to explain how the latest hit movie on Netflix debuted at the top of the chart as number one. Morbius and Madame Web had value as movies that were ”so bad they’re good,” but until this week, it’s likely even Angelina Jolie forgot she starred in Life or Something Like It. The 2002 romantic comedy drama was hated by critics, ignored by audiences, and managed to lose millions of dollars in theaters on its way to being forgotten, yet when it started streaming on Netflix, it did so as the top movie on the entire service.
Angelina Jolie Will Die In Seven Days
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Angelina Jolie made Life or Something Like It before she brought Lara Croft to the big screen in Tomb Raider, but the rom-com came in between the original and Cradle of Life, and only three years before Mr. and Mrs. Smith cemented her status as a major action star. The low-key rom-com has Jolie starring as Lanie Kerrigan, a local Seattle reporter filled with the type of ennui and emptiness about her life that marked so many early-2000s films, when she’s told by a street prophet (Tony Shalhoub) she’ll die in seven days. The prophet is shown to be eerily correct throughout the film, predicting an earthquake at exactly 9:06 AM in San Francisco, and that an “Angel will fall from the sky,” which turns out to be a member of the Anaheim (now LA) Angels.
The prediction is enough to get Lanie to try and turn her life around, though her hot baseball-playing boyfriend Cal (Angel’s Christian Kane) is useless, Pete (Edward Burns), the cameraman, is right there to share his philosophy of living each day to its fullest. Lanie finds herself falling in love with Pete’s weirdo charm and zest for life while pursuing her dream of becoming a national-level news anchor harder than ever. That’s the entire plot, and while Angelina Jolie tries to make Life or Something Like It into a hit through sheer willpower, the film, like Lanie, was doomed before opening day.
The Worst Combination Since Pineapple And Pizza: Expensive And Boring
If you decide to watch the movie on Netflix, keep in mind that this film had a budget of $40 million, and that was before the inescapable marketing campaign. With inflation, that would be close to $70 million today, and while Angelina Jolie was expensive to get for the film, Life or Something Like It costs $20 million more than the gorgeous Nosferatu remake and $30 million beyond Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, a film that managed to turn a profit, beloved by fans and critics, and was enough to secure a third film. There was no way Jolie’s film was going to turn a profit, even though it did beat The Ring and the “seven days until you die” plot to the punch by a few months.
Angelina Jolie may be an A-list star with a string of blockbusters to her name, but like any performer, she has an equal number of flops in her filmography, and Life or Something Like It may be the most forgettable. That’s not to say the film is bad; Jolie does her absolute best to elevate it, but it’s completely forgettable, and today it would be a six-episode series on a streaming service. It’s a testament to her star power that has yet to dwindle after over 30 years in the spotlight that Netflix users turn one of her worst films into a smash hit.
Life or Something Like It is streaming on Netflix.
