The ensemble drama “Life Itself” is essentially about the complex, intertwining nature of our stories and how life itself is kind of an unreliable narrator.
Got all that? Cool. Now you can avoid having to see this treacly, depressing and way-too-complicated generational mishmash.
Written and directed by Dan Fogelman, “Life Itself” (★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters nationwide Friday) is like a very special two-hour episode of his hit TV show “This Is Us” that’s just as needlessly twisty and emotionally manipulative (if you cry for that, you’ll cry for this) but without the same important connection to characters. The film follows the main players of various love stories, romantic and parental, that play out over decades in New York City and Spain, yet with only a few exceptions, it’s a cast of ciphers in a multichapter melodrama of forced feels.
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“Life Itself” is also one gigantic spoiler with how each person relates to everyone else, for better or (usually) for worse. Will (Oscar Isaac) and Abby (Olivia Wilde) are “Pulp Fiction”-loving college sweethearts with a baby on the way as the movie pinballs between various stages of their relationship. (Watching Isaac’s facial hair is key: Clean-shaven Will is pretty happy, bearded Will a complete disaster.)
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