Some films include a deus ex machina (literally: “God from the machine”), an out-of-the-blue plot convenience [read: contrivance] to save a hopeless situation. Some notable examples include: The eagles in Lord of the Rings, the t-rex in Jurassic Park, etc. Because sometimes you just want a plot to go right no matter where it is actually going. It isn’t cheating, per se, it’s “deus ex machina.” Something out-of-the-blue to make the plot resolve toward audience satisfaction. Fine.
Well, so, here’s the thing: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is 100% deus ex machina. There isn’t just one deific push at the end. There’s wall-to-wall God pushing the romance no matter how these two insist upon doing otherwise. Hey, they’re pretty. They’ve almost had tough lives. We feel for them, I think. Why shouldn’t God intervene again and again and again for their entire weekend, huh? Like God has better things to do. Pfft.
David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) are the singles that just can’t not be a double, apparently. They live in different parts of Manhattan. They both have the same wedding to be at, but the boot on David’s car seems to say otherwise. Wait! What’s this? A surprise new rent-a-car place just around the corner? Through a secret entrance? Inside a huge warehouse? That holds exactly two cars and a whole lot of space? And what’s with the personal quiz, car-rental-gods? Don’t you just need a driver’s license and credit card?
At the wedding, both parties seem reluctant. Both have closeted skeletons the size of Shaquille O’Neal. He doesn’t dance. She does. They spend the night not with each other. They go home separately. Well, they would have gone home separately, expect the GPS asks David if he wants to take A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. He does. And the GPS makes him pull off the road and collect a cheeseburger … exactly at the same Burger King where Sarah is. Despite the otherworldly pushing, unbelievable coincidence, and obvious attraction, these two still won’t get together, so fate breaks one of their cars, and they drive off as a couple into random spots where rain magically dries up on the spot, and doors magically transport them to different times in their lives. I’d like to say this is contrived, but every.single.moment in this entire movie is contrived.
And the kicker? These two stubborn sods still won’t get together. Fate is pushing as hard as it can, but these guys just don’t wanna. Maybe it’s a sign, fate. I mean, c’mon.
Seriously, I am so used to “this has to be a sign” to argue fate is pushing a romance, but I’m really thinking fate ought to take the hint here; it seems really slow on the uptake. Kismet? They met and didn’t kis. Leave it.
No?
Oh, all right.
Here’s how this picture goes: A magic voice tells them to go 72 miles in a direction they hadn’t intended. Then it tells them to stop next to a forest. There’s nothing there … except there is. After a bit of walking, the two find a door. It’s just a door. No structure behind it. Just a single door naked in a natural world where it doesn’t belong. But when opened, the door takes David back to high school. He’s 16 again. Well, he’s not, really, but everyone 
around pretends he is. And then David gets to re-live some serious high school trauma. We all see the good and bad here – David gets to redo something awful yet now Sarah is on his side. And maybe this history lesson will bring them both together. OTOH, teen David is clearly NOT middle-aged David, and this whole contrivance feels like an acting workshop. What’s this? David is starring in a musical? Did you survey Colin Farrell’s agent before you wrote the script? “Do you have a movie where Colin can sing and dance? No? How about now?”
Clearly, this film starts off badly as -regardless of intention- it sounds like what happens if you allow Donald Trump to title a film. What follows almost doesn’t matter. But it does. And the film is essentially about two wonderful actors trying not to be in love when the universe is forcing them into it.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey had my favorite trailer in all of 2025 film. Give that editor a feature-length movie; see what they can do with it. It is impossible to believe a trailer with such heart and promise could yield a movie so underwhelming … and yet, here we are. Ok, what did I like about this film? It certainly was a unique romance. For all the fantastical contrived Hallmark crap, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is several levels above Hallmark or Christmas romance. I also liked that these two are genuinely flawed lovers. In real life, there’s no reason either of these pretty people should be single for long if they wished otherwise; and yet the film makes a good case for why. While I did certainly feel let down that the feature length experience in no way matched the emotional response I had for the trailer, I did like this Journey enough to recommend it … mildly. Very, very mildly.
Two pretty people, David and Sarah
Went through lovers like smeared mascara
But fate has implied
That if they just took a ride
They’d be in love by, perhaps, Santa Clara
Rated R, 109 Minutes
Director: Kogonada
Writer: Seth Reiss
Genre: Reluctant romance
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Romantics so hopeless they cannot accept defeat
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “I give this two weeks.”
