Movie · 2025 · Romance, Comedy, Drama · 2h 3m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.7/10 (330.4K ratings)
For everyone who's still figuring it out.
Overview
When her mother sends her on a quest to complete a teenage bucket list, a young woman uncovers family secrets, finds romance — and rediscovers herself.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.7/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.04/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 46%
Metacritic: 49
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Adam Brooks
Production
3dot Productions
Cast
Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, Sebastian de Souza, Connie Britton, José Zúñiga, Jordi Mollà, Dario Ladani Sanchez, Federico Rodriguez, Marianne Rendón, Michael Rowland, Chelsea Frei, Luca Padovan, Rachel Zeiger-Haag, Maria Jung, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Ben Warheit, Jonathan Lipnick, Lila Midkiff, Khouri St. Surin, Ahnya O'Riordan
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A lightweight, emotionally engineered rom-com-drama with a strong premise and easy chemistry, but it leans heavily on sentiment and convenience. It works best as a comfort watch if you want a glossy, low-stakes story about grief, family secrets, and late-blooming self-discovery.
Best for
fans of earnest rom-coms with a self-discovery arc
viewers who like family-drama setups softened by humor
people looking for an easy, sentimental streaming watch
audiences who enjoy early-2000s rom-com energy
Skip if
you want sharp writing or emotional realism
you dislike manipulative tearjerker beats
you prefer romance with more tension and less predictability
you are tired of bucket-list / life-reset narratives
Overview
The Life List is built from familiar parts: a mother’s posthumous instructions, a daughter’s reluctant road to adulthood, and a romance that arrives right on schedule. The movie’s appeal is less in surprise than in polish, with a breezy tone and a sincere commitment to making self-improvement feel like a romantic adventure.
Worth noting
What gives it some lift is the cast’s easy charm and the movie’s willingness to play as a throwback comfort piece rather than chase irony. It has the glossy, slightly old-fashioned feel of a studio rom-com, with enough family tension and emotional housekeeping to keep it from becoming pure fluff.
Bottom line
Still, the story is very aware of the buttons it is pushing. If you’re receptive to sentimental plotting and a tidy emotional payoff, it goes down smoothly. If you need sharper dialogue, messier feelings, or a less obvious destination, it may feel engineered more than lived-in.
Top Letterboxd reviews
saverakvakil (3.5★) · 7974 likes
i’d be so sad if my mom left my sister heartfelt video messages after her death after making it clear for my entire childhood that she was her favorite kid, but yay for alex i guess
lorena (4★) · 7135 likes
bradley ackerman i am free on thursday night if u want to hang out
nessie08 (2.5★) · 5697 likes
my mum better be immortal
lucia (4★) · 5407 likes
need that silly lawyer man rn
theo (3★) · 4192 likes
the mom left alex the house and a 10-part series on how to get her life together and her other children got some old paintings lmao