Movie · 2025 · Romance, Fantasy, Drama · 1h 49m · R · English
Curator score: 1.1/10 (125.7K ratings)
Relive your past. Change your future.
Overview
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.1/10
IMDb: 6.0/10
Letterboxd: 2.77/5
Metacritic: 43
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Kogonada
Production
Imperative Entertainment, 30WEST, Columbia Pictures, Chapel Place Productions, Tempo Basho, Original Films
Cast
Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Jodie Turner-Smith, Chloe East, Jennifer Grant, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Jason Kravits, Brandon Perea, Jacqueline Novak, Lucy Thomas, Mike Meldman, Calahan Skogman, Pablo Soriano, Galen Hooks, Michelle Mao
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
An ambitious, emotionally earnest fantasy romance with striking visual polish and a high-concept hook, but the chemistry and dialogue appear uneven enough that it may frustrate viewers looking for a fully convincing love story. Best approached as a mood piece about memory, regret, and second chances rather than a tightly calibrated romance.
Best for
fans of wistful, high-concept romantic dramas
viewers who like introspective stories about memory and healing
people open to stylized, emotionally sincere fantasy
audiences who enjoy Kogonada’s contemplative visual approach
Skip if
you need strong romantic chemistry to buy the premise
you dislike sentimental dialogue or overt emotionality
you want a fast, plot-driven fantasy adventure
you’re impatient with stories built around trauma and self-reflection
Overview
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey aims for the kind of romantic-fantasy reverie that feels both intimate and cosmic, using a magical premise to revisit the emotional architecture of two lonely lives. The setup is appealing: strangers, a wedding, and a chance to walk back through the moments that shaped them. In theory, it’s the sort of concept that can turn memory into a love story and regret into possibility.
Worth noting
What seems to hold it back is the very thing it’s trying hardest to sell: the central connection. The film’s emotional sincerity may be intact, but the dialogue and chemistry reportedly feel manufactured rather than discovered, which is a serious problem for a romance built on belief. That can make the movie feel more like an elegant exercise in longing than a fully lived-in relationship.
Bottom line
Still, there’s enough craft and tonal ambition here to make it worth a look for the right viewer. If you respond to wistful, slightly artificial, visually composed romances that treat the past as a haunted landscape, this has a distinct appeal. If you need the emotional payoff to feel effortless, it may leave you admiring the idea more than the experience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Beatrice (2★) · 4551 likes
What did they have in common??? They like burgers??? They were both former kids????
zoë rose bryant (3.5★) · 3630 likes
takes place in a fantasy world where trauma dumping on a man for two hours straight only makes him want you more
Framesofnick (2.5★) · 3286 likes
That annoying ass couple using chatGPT for date ideas
theo (3.5★) · 2859 likes
monsters inc but it’s actually scary because behind every door is unresolved trauma
Joe A (2★) · 2807 likes
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a movie try so hard to manufacture a chemistry between characters that simply did not exist. It’s difficult to be profound or romantic when the dialogue feels ripped from the decor found at Home Goods™️ and the whole movie feels so plastic, Joe Hisaishi innocent of course.