‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ Review: When a GPS Leads to Love

“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” boasts the ingredients for a remarkable movie: Kogonada, a filmmaker responsible for two masterpieces, Seth Reiss, the writer of “The Menu,” Academy Award nominees Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, a “First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes needle drop, and Laufey, Mitski, and Wilco on the soundtrack. Unfortunately, the film never quite becomes an effective whole.

At a lively wedding, David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) cross paths and meet again when the magical, conversing GPS (Jodie-Turner Smith) and cosmic matchmaker inside David’s 1994 Saturn SL leads him to Sarah. The characters drive long distances through an ambiguous but California-esque landscape and follow the vehicle’s instructions, ostensibly without question, as it takes them through a series of portal doors (much like those in “Monsters Inc.”) that lead into landmark moments of their lives. Would they be willing to surrender themselves for a chance at connection? An interesting premise, and yet the central relationship, at its core, strangely lacks depth and appears forced.

The film features primary colors that pop at the center of each shot. While these visuals at times evoke the dreamy quality of the backdrop, in other instances, they seem less an artistic choice than what has become the now-standard style of prestige cinema and ultimately comes across as derivative.

With fantastical elements, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” insists on inventing its own rules along the way, which makes staying grounded impossible. The characters alternate between questioning the bizarre, like when Sarah wonders aloud who could have placed a red door in the woods, and brushing aside the extraordinary, such as when they abandon a car that has flipped and rolled unscathed without expecting repercussions. Do they drive into a new reality, or are these surreal images normal to them? Occasionally, the movie experiments by transporting David and Sarah to a dimension modeled after Sarah’s mother’s favorite painting, where the couple can act, converse, or monologue in a stage-lit, empty expanse — a stage between realities. However, the script’s baffling inconsistency undercuts any serious or whimsical interpretations of the surrealism.

The unbelievability of the pair as a couple, stemming from stilted, ill-timed dialogue, also undermines this movie’s impact. Moments of the script suggest that David and Sarah have no reason to be interested in each other: When David casually asks if she wants a drink, Sarah replies with a flat no. Later, Sarah shifts abruptly from playful banter, questioning “Are you chasing me?” to sudden seriousness — warning him to stop if he is. These moments create an uneven tone. While David and Sarah’s resistance to each other is central to the narrative, their clumsy and contrived interactions prevent the audience from emotionally investing in their story. This reluctance leaves viewers feeling disconnected.

Lines that are meant to be profound are too often dropped into scenes without any prior emotional buildup, lacking significance in context, and therefore robbed of any weight they might have carried. When David says, “It’s funny how the most beautiful places make you feel the most alone,” or “Sometimes we have to perform to get to the truth,” the words come across as cheap and blatantly inauthentic.

Despite these issues in the script, the acting deserves praise. Farrell has, in standout movies of recent years, taken on as wide a range of roles across as many genres as any actor could: the villain in “The Batman,” the morally detached father in “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and the vulnerable Pádraic in the Best Picture-nominated “The Banshees of Inisherin.” In his second collaboration with Kogonada since the celebrated “After Yang,” Farrell’s talent is evident as he portrays David as a rich, flawed character. Through electrifying musical numbers, embodying his high school self, or wrestling with the realizations of middle age, he throws his whole heart and energy into the role, bringing subtleties to a character that might otherwise have felt hollow in lesser hands.

Thematically, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” tackles the question of what is worth taking a risk for through its characters. David realizes he lacks uniqueness and feels an overwhelming sense of emptiness as he discovers that nothing and no one brings him lasting happiness. Sarah grapples with her own fears; she feels unseen and hesitates to reveal herself to others. This is keenly expressed through her repeated assertions that “You don’t know me.” The narrative concludes that love’s true power lies not in guaranteeing happiness, but in kindling hope in the lives it touches. Ultimately, the film finds an important distinction between contentedness and happiness, inviting viewers to nuanced consideration.

Yet while “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” offers this striking exploration of connection and risk, its underdeveloped characters and inconsistent dialogue ultimately prevent it from fully realizing its potential, leaving audiences with thought-provoking themes but an emotionally distant experience. “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” functions as a first draft of a film, as a sketch that was never fully developed.