Angelina Jolie’s Forgotten Rom-Com Becomes Netflix Hit 23 Years After $16M Failure

Angelina Jolie‘s 2002 flop climbs the streaming charts 23 years later. Since her breakout performance starring as a young girl battling mental illness alongside Winona Ryder in the 1999 thriller Girl, Interrupted, which earned Jolie her first Academy Award, the actor has been in many movies over the years, including blockbusters like Disney’s Maleficent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Salt. She’s also been known to star in smaller projects, such as Foxfire and Playing God.

To this day, Jolie has starred in more than 50 movies. More recently, she wowed viewers in Netflix’s Maria as Maria Callas, an American Greek soprano who was once one of the most iconic performers in the world. The movie follows the singer’s retreat to Paris after a life in the public eye and sees her rediscover her idenтιтy and life. However, it’s another one of Jolie’s movies that is earning Netflix viewers’ attention now.

Life Or Something Like It Claims A Spot On Netflix’s U.S. Chart

The Forgotten Angelina Jolie Rom-Com Finds Success Over Two Decades Later

Life or Something Like It was added to Netflix on April 13, starring Jolie as a TV reporter who was told by a psychic that she only had one week to live. Despite a star-studded cast featuring Edward Burns, Tony Shalhoub, Christopher Shyer, Stockard Channing, and many others, the 2002 film was considered a commercial loss, concluding its theatrical run with $16 million against a $40 million budget. It also earned largely negative reviews.

23 years later, Life or Something Like It has found success on the Netflix streaming platform, securing a spot in the Daily Top 10 U.S. chart. Currently sitting at No. 2, the movie is right behind the chart topper, 2024’s Despicable Me 4. Other movies on the list include the recently added тιтles The Life List and One of Them Days alongside one of Netflix’s favorites, Sing, which has a total of 56 days on the Top 10 chart, and the family-friendly comedy The Croods.

What This Means For Life Or Something Like It

Viewers Are Starting To Discover Underrated Gems Like Life Or Something Like ItAngelina Jolie as Lanie Kerrigan sitting on a couch in Life or Something Like It.

Life or Something Like It didn’t receive much love from the critics. Generated from over 100 reviews, Jolie’s 2002 romantic comedy only has a 28% critical approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a shy 44% approval rating from viewers, which makes its streaming success after 23 years pretty notable. One might say the movie didn’t make enough of an impression upon release to be a nostalgic favorite for today’s audiences.

On the other hand, despite the Top 10 chart being dominated by family-oriented movies, many recently added films have been able to find success on the platform, including The Hating Game, added to Netflix on April 5, and The Dark Knight, which came to the platform on April 1. This could largely be due to Netflix’s algorithm, as it pushes new movies to the front of the service for viewers to easily discover. It seems that one of Angelina Jolie‘s most underrated movies could finally receive some recognition.

Source: Netflix

Life or Something Like It

PG-13
Comedy
Documentary
Romance




Cast


  • instar53635214-1
    Angelina Jolie


  • HeadsH๏τ Of Edward Burns
    Edward Burns


  • HeadsH๏τ Of Tony Shalhoub In The 29th Annual Critics' Choice Awards
    Tony Shalhoub


  • HeadsH๏τ Of Christian Kane
    Christian Kane



Release Date

April 24, 2002

Runtime

103 minutes

Director

Stephen Herek

Writers

John Scott Shepherd, Dana Stevens

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