A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey - Review 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

THE idea of how past hurt informs future relationships is at the heart of Kogonada’s romantic fantasy A Big Bold Beautiful Journey - and it raises some intriguing points in often beautiful fashion.

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell play Sarah and David, a couple of romantic misfits, who meet and warily flirt at the wedding of mutual friends without properly committing to anything (not even a dance). She does ask him to marry her - but, again, the suggestion (after mere minutes of meeting) is dismissed as nonsensical.

But fate conspires to place these two together and when Sarah’s rental car breaks down after the wedding, they wind up sharing David’s car and go on a road trip together - aided by a sat nav that seems more interested in hooking them up than getting them where they’re going.

Indeed, it’s one of the film’s more fantastical elements to have the couple rent their vehicles from the same car agency, which is run by two wildly eccentric comedy characters played by Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It is their meddling that sets the romance in motion.

For thanks to the sat nav, David and Sarah to various magic doors in the landscape that takes them back to seminal moments in their lives, thereby allowing them to re-evaluate decisions and understand their impact - all of which have invariably led them to their commitment phobic current selves.

For Sarah, this includes a trip to a gallery that her late mother loved, while for David it’s back to the high school musical where he professed his love for a stage parent only to be met with humbling rejection.

The ensuing journey allows plenty of room for fantasy indulgence. A highlight is a musical number set against the backdrop of the stage play, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which finds Farrell singing and dancing with gusto.

Kogonada’s visuals also add an extra vibrancy to proceedings, punctuating scenes with striking colours (bright umbrellas pervade rainy night-time sequences, nodding to classics such as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), while the whimsical nature of some scenes also brings a Charlie Kauffman quality that recalls similarly profound romantic movies such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

And it’s this more cerebral approach that enables the film to maintain its fresher feel; that aforementioned sense of hurt pervading the characters’ journey.

Love can hurt. It can leave scars. And it can get in the way of future risks.

Farrell and Robbie convey this uncertainty and hesitancy to expose themselves to more of the same really well, while also digging deep in the film’s latter scenes to confront their pain (especially with regard to relationships with their parents). It lends the film a more grounded feel than your average rom-com.

True, this can make certain elements of the film’s bigger and bolder moments of fantasy feel a little jarring, while it’s impossible to imagine Farrell or Robbie being hurt and alone for too long in real life.

But there’s even something profound in that idea - just because something is bright and beautiful doesn’t mean everything is ok. Beauty is superficial; feelings and emotions run deeper.

It’s a concept that actors of the quality of both Farrell and Robbie really lean into and explore, making their journey all the more endearing. Come the nicely realised finale, you should feel glad to have walked through those doors with them.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 1hr 51mins