2025   Netflix

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  5min

Drama ~ Romance

Directed by: Adam Brooks

Starring:  Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen and Connie Britton.

“Do something everyday that scares you.”

The Book:

The Life List: A Novel by Lori Nelson Spielman – July 2, 2013

Synopsis:

Brett Bohlinger seems to have it all: a plum job, a spacious loft, an irresistibly handsome boyfriend. All in all, a charmed life. That is, until her beloved mother passes away, leaving behind a will with one big stipulation: In order to receive her inheritance, Brett must first complete the life list of goals she’d written when she was a naïve girl of fourteen. Grief-stricken, Brett can barely make sense of her mother’s decision—her childhood dreams don’t resemble her ambitions at age thirty-four in the slightest. Some seem impossible.

 

 

Inspiration for The Life List, by Lori Nelson Spielman:

Like any author, I’m often asked how I came up with the idea for my novel. My answer comes easily. The seed for The Life List was found in an old cedar box.

It had been years since I’d last opened my miniature hope chest, a high school graduation gift. The scent of cedar greeted me, along with my first bankbook, my grandmother’s rosary, a couple of silver dollars, and a single sheet of notebook paper, folded into a neat little square.

Curious, I unfolded the yellowed paper. In flowery cursive, Lori’s List was penciled across the top. My abandoned life list.

I was wise enough to include the day and month, March 13th, but foolishly I’d omitted the year. Maybe I hadn’t planned to keep it. Maybe I didn’t realize how quickly memories fade, how years later, I’d barely remember the day that young girl sat on her blue flowered bedspread, contemplating her future. But judging from the goals, what had and hadn’t been accomplished, I was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old.

The crumpled piece of paper revealed a list of 29 things my adolescent mind imagined would make for a good life. I’d also added a sidebar called Ways to Be, which included such pearls as, Don’t talk about ANYONE. Laugh. Say “hi” to everyone.

As I read the list, I thought about how different my life would be if I’d fulfilled every goal my youthful heart longed for. In no time, my mind was racing. A story was taking shape. What if someone were forced to finish their life list—a list they thought they’d outgrown?

In the course of several days, my story evolved. First, I came up with riddles from a dying mother, offering her daughter cryptic clues to find her true self. But that was silly. Why the riddles? Why wouldn’t her mother just tell her daughter what she wanted her to accomplish? And it was crucial that the mother didn’t appear heavy-handed or controlling. The story could only work if it was clear that the mother’s intentions came from a loving heart. I also knew the story risked being predictable. I imagined readers rolling their eyes, sure that in the end, Brett would be married to the love of her life and have a baby and a dog and a horse. Her dreams couldn’t be accomplished easily, or in conventional ways the reader might expect. I wanted some goals to lead to others, in circuitous, serendipitous ways. Soon, pages for Another Sky were piling up, becoming the manuscript that would later be re-titled, The Life List.

So there you have it: the kernel for The Life List was my old life list—Lori’s List. Though I fell short of some goals, I believe my list served me well. It’s true, I won’t be waving my children off to college. But I will get to watch my novel set off for parts of the world I may never visit. My book will be introduced to new people, and hopefully entertain, and possibly provoke discussion. And maybe, just maybe, my story will inspire some other little girl, in some other small town, to set her own goals, to aspire to something that’s hers alone. And whether her ambitions are humble or grandiose, silly or pensive, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is, she dreams.

The Movie Review:

I didn’t know the movie was based on a book until I started to write this review. I have not read the book but I included the information on the book because I thought it was a great story. And I thought the Author’s vision that writing the story might inspire young girls to dream about their future was a really admirable wish and intention behind the story she wrote. Awesome!

I say the same thing about the movie. Awesome! Great story and a great movie. It is a romantic drama that pulls at the heart. You feel for Alex as she stumbles along trying to find her way and make sense of her mother’s wish. And as Alex heads out on her journey, it quickly becomes about Alex finding herself and not about the money. Personally I thought she could have been a great stand up comic, quick on her feet and funny as heck.

Sofia Carson threw herself into this role and movie with all her heart and it shows. Excellent job. She had me rooting for her the whole way. Connie Britton as her Mom was great, you could feel the love she had for Alex and the desire for her to live her best life. Alex’s brothers, Brad, Garrett and both her Dad’s I liked. I liked everything about this movie, the scenery and videography, the characters, the list itself. It was heartwarming, sad yet happy and fulfilling, funny and lighthearted yet serious all at the same time, just like life.

I really liked it and I highly recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!