Spoiler Alert: From their days in college Abby(Wilde) and Will(Isaac) have been a couple the great loves of each others lives. Married and living in New York they are about to be expecting their first child. Flash forward a bit and we see that Will is a mess having recently gotten out of a mental institution and doing court mandated therapy after Abby left him. At first we think he has had a mental breakdown because she left him. But in fact as the story goes on we learn about Abby and their life together up to the day she left him. And it is there we learn that Abby did not leave him for because she was unhappy in their marriage. She was actually hit by a bus while they were walking home and she died while their unborn baby daughter survived. This is why Will had a mental breakdown it is because he witnessed a traumatic experience. It effected him so hard that he was hospitalized for being suicidal and has never met his daughter.But alas the stress is still too much for him and he takes his own life. Abby and Will's daughter Dylan(Cooke) is raised by Will's parents up until she was 7 and than just by Will's father Irwin(Pantinkin) till she was 21. Dylan has become a very angry and troubled girl by the effects of both her parents dying. And then there is the little boy Rodrigo on the bus that saw Abby get hit and his life living with his parents on a olive plantation in Spain from his parents first moving there to his traumatic experience in New York, the plantation owner Mr.Saccione(Banderas) getting him the help he needed and being an uncle to him when his father left. We also see how all the lives in Rodrigo's life are affected with their ups and downs. Until we eventually find out that on the 21st anniversary of Abby's death that life has a sense of irony when an upset Dylan meets a grown Rodrigo who now goes to college in New York becoming the loves of each others lives.
Now I may have said too much and maybe made it sound confusing but I guess that is what the writer/ director was going at here. The movie had a great idea here showing how all things in life have a meaning and purpose. While I didn't mind it and thought the story was interesting. It just seemed to long and drawn out with the story jumping around a lot. It was I have to say a bit on the depressing side but it did make you think a bit which is always good. It had some humour but not enough to offset the drab kind of tone it set. The movie was told mostly by a narrator which has a purpose in the movie due to a thesis paper that the character of Abby had written in college about the unreliable narrator. But when you get to the ending you also see why. It worked to build the effect that was being sought after. The characters were okay, some were well written and some needed work. The acting was for the most part pretty good with some decent performances put in here. The movie could be a bit confusing at times wondering just where they were going with this. The dialogue was pretty good but could have been a little stronger. All in all a half decent effort, I was electing to shed a few tears but didn't seem to as there was just too much sadness in this movie which made it become obvious. That is why I am giving Life Itself a 6.2 on the Justin Scale Of Movies and placing it on my Flick-It pile of movies to wait to see out of the theatre. So there you have it! Another movie revue win the books and time to call it a wrap here! But first, remember to keep that popcorn freshly popped and save me a good seat because I will be seeing you again at the movies!
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