The Life List Movie Review (2025)
A formulaic romantic comedy about a woman whose mother insists that she follow a list of past dreams to jump-start her life, The Life List is a good concept with mediocre execution.
I was first introduced to Sofia Carson as Evie, the daughter of Snow White’s evil queen in the Descendants franchise. My daughter was obsessed with those films when they first came out and they played on our tv a lot. Carson has now gone on to do various other projects, none which I am familiar with, so I was curious about this movie.
The Life List is about Alex, a woman who works at her mother’s cosmetics company and is dating a guy with seemingly no future. When her mother, who Alex is extremely close to, passes away, she is left nothing in her mother’s will other than a directive. From a prerecorded DVD, her mother explains that Alex must check off activities from a Life List that Alex wrote at 13 years old to help get her out of her current rut. For every activity she completes, her lawyer will provide a new DVD from her mother.
This is a fairly dry romantic comedy that, after watching the first 15 minutes, you know how it will end. Some people won’t care and will enjoy the journey, but I was just hoping that there would be some unforeseen bumps along the way. There are one or two, but the entire film is incredibly predictable.
My biggest issue is the lack of any spark. It feels pretty lifeless for the longest time, until Sebastian de Souza enters the picture during a train ride. His presence is the first time that something semi-magical happens, and that little voice inside goes, “Okay, what else?”
Sofia Carson is fun to watch, but it takes half of the film to get to a place where you care at all about her – even through the death and mourning of her mother. Once you do, although it isn’t deep, you want to see how things will play out. Will she get the guy you know she’s going to get?
Because I ultimately became entertained by my lack of investment, I started keeping a list for myself. The film goes from blah and wooden to a bit of a spark to more of a spark. At that point, it goes back to blah, then a little more spark to eh. Roll credits.
The thing is, the story has some real potential. Clearly based on a book (of the same name), Alex has to do things like try stand-up comedy, participate in a mosh pit, and get a tattoo. It’s fun to watch her accomplish her goals (the mosh pit yelling is great), though many are glossed over, so you develop very little attachment to her quest.
The Life List is very much like a Hallmark movie with a few (very slight) twists. If you are looking to watch a film where the girl gets the guy and they have a cute way of reaching that point, this is your movie. It really isn’t much deeper than that.
Runtime: 124 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes, but only if you need something very light
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2.75/5 Stars
Available: Free on Netflix
