{"id":31960,"date":"2025-09-28T07:45:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=31960"},"modified":"2025-09-28T07:45:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:45:57","slug":"margot-robbie-and-colin-farrell-take-a-big-bold-beautiful-journey-in-a-new-film-about-love-and-the-meaning-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=31960","title":{"rendered":"Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell Take \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d in a New Film About Love and The Meaning of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Colin Farrell & Margot Robbie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Review by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
 
Film: \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d
Director: Kogonada
Cast: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Brandon Perea, Chloe East, Hamish Linklater, Lucy Thomas, Yuvi Hecht, Calahan Skogman, Jacqueline Novak, Jennifer Grant, Shelby Simmons
 
Margot Robbie\u2019s recently released first film since \u201cBarbie\u201d is \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey.\u201d It was expected to re-position her in a deeply moving meaningful film addressing big issues. Nonetheless, it has missed its mark.
 
Oscar nominees Robbie and Colin Farrell (who also won a Golden Globe and had two recent Emmy noms) star together in this movie directed by Kogonada (Park Joong Eun), the Korean-American filmmaker best known for critically-acclaimed indies like \u201cColumbus\u201d and \u201cAfter Yang.\u201d 
 
Rather than being based on a popular novel, it\u2019s an original movie written by another acclaimed creator, Seth Reiss. He\u2019s a writer from \u201cLate Night with Seth Meyers\u201d who conceived of the quirky horror film, \u201cThe Menu.\u201d
 
Matching Robbie with Farrell meant that, at a minimum, the screen would be filled with pretty people to look at. But beyond their visual appeal, both are extremely talented. Farrell has certainly honed his skills over the years, while Robbie is a modern-day icon exemplifying the alluring sex symbol. 
 
The film starts when David (Farrell) discovers a boot on his car and goes to a strange rental place for a ride. So does Sarah. The world’s most bizarre Rental Car counter is staffed by two quirky characters played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) and Kevin Kline (\u201cA Fish Called Wanda\u201d). There\u2019s a fantastical GPS system in their matching 1994 Saturns. It separately directs David and Sarah to various places, even to the same roadside diner where they order fast food cheeseburgers. 
 
Eventually, they travel in the same Saturn, with the GPS sending them to a series of doors \u2014 each connected to past moments in their lives. A red door leads to a lighthouse, another to a high school musical production. Next one to a special museum, and yet another to hospital visits. They\u2019re partly a trip down memory lane and partly meant to be a psychological or spiritual awakening.
 
David and Sarah share the journey with each other \u2014 good memories and bad. While they\u2019ve each professed earlier \u2014 especially Sarah \u2014 that they\u2019re bad with relationships, a bond is growing. Stepping through the doors exposes bits of their lives and personalities to each other that might take years to be discovered in the normal course of a relationship. Dealing with one’s own past is a step in moving forward, and an even bigger step is accepting another\u2019s life to share. Or so it seems in this hyper-symbolic, philosophically oriented narrative.
 
Regrets, missed opportunities, grief, and hurdles are all part of the issues that this film addresses. With such supporting cast members as Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, Billy Magnussen, Jodi Turner-Smith, and Sarah Gadon, the landscape of the film should be filled with effective truth tellers. Nonetheless, they\u2019re hampered by stilted moments in the script, some of which seem forced at best.
 
Whether it’s viewed as a search for one’s own soul or for a soulmate, this film deals with the baggage that goes along with being a grown-up. It\u2019s actually for that reason that the film is worth viewing. In many ways, I\u2019m glad to see something like this because such storytelling could only happen in movies. Fantasy elements use the cinematic environment to address such issues in a way that a realistic film wouldn\u2019t or can\u2019t.
 
Though it\u2019s seems to be targeting younger women, this is another movie that received an R-rating for horrible \u201clanguage. This reality presents yet another conundrum about the film: it\u2019s a hard-nosed tale addressing the problems of life while also being a romantic, life-affirming fantasy with interesting ideas. \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d tells a tale that doesn\u2019t exactly reach where it wants to go.
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