This past week, I caved and decided to watch the new Netflix movie, “The Life List,” against my better judgment. While I’m typically an enjoyer of romantic comedies, I wasn’t sure of what to expect upon beginning the movie. The plot seemed promising enough: the movie follows Alex Rose, a young woman in New York City whose mother passes away due to cancer early in the movie and leaves behind a video for her, instructing her to complete a life list from when she was 13 in order to receive her inheritance. However, Netflix movies definitely have an inconsistent track record, and I was a little hesitant after watching the trailer but chose to watch it anyway.
The movie’s plot notably picks up as Alex attends her mother, Elizabeth’s, will reading, expecting to inherit the position of CEO at her mother’s company, Rose Cosmetics; however, it is revealed that not only was she not promoted, but she was fired completely. Once away from her family, Brad, a young lawyer who worked alongside Elizabeth in the creation of the will, gives Alex a video that her mother left behind for her. In the video, her mother explains that Alex must complete her list by the end of the year to earn her inheritance, and after she completes each task, Brad will give her a new video. One of these tasks, of course, is to find ‘true love.’
Shortly after beginning the list, Alex begins dating Garrett, a man she saw on the subway while reading Moby Dick, who happens to be the coordinator of the shelter she begins working for. He seems nice enough, but it’s instantly clear that he’s merely a placeholder until she meets her ‘one true love.’ The two seemingly don’t have much in common, and Alex confides in Brad, her lawyer and friend-in-the-making, about their lack of communication. My main issue with this choice is honestly just the predictability. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind cheesy plotlines; they are a staple in rom-coms, but in this movie in particular, I was just completely uninterested in all the scenes about Alex and Garrett. It’s difficult to root for them while Alex is gazing longingly into her lawyer’s eyes in the following scenes. Unsurprisingly, the two break up after an argument, and Garrett accuses Alex of using him to complete her list.
In an attempt to cross another task off of her list, Alex meets up with her father, with whom she seems to have little to no contact. After the two break out into an argument, Alex discovers that she is actually the daughter of Johnny Alvarez, a musician with whom her mother had an affair years prior. Since she and Garrett split, she is left without a ride to go find her father in Vermont, and Brad swoops in to save the day alongside his long-distance girlfriend, Nina. After the car ride and roughly one minute in the lobby of the hotel, however, Nina recognizes Alex and Brad’s obvious chemistry and leaves shortly thereafter, likely feeling uncomfortable.
After meeting her father and agreeing to meet up the next day, Alex and Brad go out for drinks, finally get together and everything is seemingly perfect. Well, that is, if you ignore the fact that to the audience’s knowledge, Brad is still fully in a relationship with Nina. This is definitely where the movie started to lose me; I want to root for the endgame couple, but why are we trying to push a cheating storyline into a rom-com about growth and love? It only gets worse upon returning to New York City when Brad tells Alex that he and Nina broke up over her, and Alex lashes out, frustrated with him. At this point, I was just completely lost; was she upset that he wasn’t in a relationship anymore? Before this conversation, it wasn’t disclosed that Brad and Nina had broken up, so I would have assumed that Alex would be relieved to find out he was single. I was ready to just turn the movie off at this point, but I figured I had already watched the majority of it, so I might as well wait for the conclusion.
When Alex returns to Brad’s office at the end of the movie, she is surprised to find that he is not there. However, she learns that despite believing she hadn’t completed her life list, she would receive her inheritance, which was revealed to be the deed to the family house. She, of course, then finds Brad, and the two reconcile dramatically after Alex insists that he is her one true love. The movie ends with a New Year’s party at Alex’s new house, and she and Brad are clearly happy together, so there is definitely a somewhat satisfying ending.
There was a lot of potential for this movie to succeed, and perhaps it did; I know several people who did enjoy it, but if it wasn’t already clear, “The Life List” wasn’t really my cup of tea.