Despite its intriguing title and visuals, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” falls flat on its romantic fantasy. The film stars Academy Award nominees Margot Robbie, marking her return to the big screen since her smash hit “Barbie,” and Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Batman”). The story follows two strangers who rent a car from the same mysterious dealership, leading them to not only meet at a mutual friend’s wedding, but also to them continuously running into one another, eventually deciding to take on a fantastical, larger-than-life adventure together.
The film is directed by Kogonada, known for his early video reviews for Sight and Sound, The Criterion Collection and more, which evolved into directing feature-length films such as “Columbus” and “After Yang,” which also stars Farrell. While he does his best with the muddled and overtly-complicated script written by Seth Reiss, the film still struggles to find its voice.
The film is one strange, difficult-to-watch scene after another. In the beginning, when Sarah (Robbie) and David (Farrell) meet one another at a wedding, the film establishes that they feel a connection with each other, despite no chemistry showing between the two leads. This problem is present throughout the film because it is truly difficult to believe that these characters fall in love with one another, despite the film showing the characters’ life stories.
Deciding to go on the titular “Big Bold Beautiful Journey” after seeing each other at a diner, they find themselves traveling to different places and landscapes to literally walk through different doors that lead to them reliving important moments in their lives. Their first door, taking them to a small house in Canada where David visited once years before, sets a precedent for how the rest of the door visits go: poor visual effects, weak editing that makes the film more confusing than it should be and poor character development that is accompanied with corny and cringy dialogue. The lines are delivered well by Farrell and Robbie, who try their best to piece this story together with what they are given, even if the film continuously botches its attempt to mean something.
Throughout the film, as the two characters travel from a museum to a high school to a hospital, the audience, despite seeing them relive important moments in their lives, does not understand much about these characters’ personalities or identities. Sarah stresses many times throughout the film that she is a “terrible person” who would only “end up hurting” David, but the film never shows why she is who she is, leading the audience to question if she even has much of an identity at all. Her character feels like the archetypal “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” with her lack of a real personality, although her character does get a nice scene with her mom (Lily Rabe) near the end of the film. (played by a memorable Lily Rabe).
As for David, he does not get much of a character either. He is established as someone who prefers chasing love rather than being in love with someone. Once again, the film never shows why David loves the way he does, rather having Farrell deliver choppy monologues and having Robbie act upset and having this cycle repeat for what felt like forever.
Despite these critiques, the visuals and cinematography look stunning at times, with memorable shots that are destined to be screenshotted and posted to X, formerly Twitter, declaring that the film is a “modern classic” that will be understood properly in twenty years time. While it makes sense how some people will truly love the film and find something special in it, it is something that most audiences will not like be able to grasp.
Their journey ends with them both revisiting their childhood homes. This includes a scene where Sarah is speaking with her mom and David is having a conversation with his teenage self. Despite the sappy music that feels out of place throughout the film and heavy monologues, the film’s ending feels extremely forced and unearned. The big love confession at the very end of the film, in combination with the lack of chemistry, character development and well-written dialogue, feels empty, just like the rest of the movie.
While “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” may consist of one beautiful frame after another, every other aspect struggles to piece itself together, making it so the film is a hollow experience that exhausts more than excites.
