Given the current cynical and hyper-polarized state of our society, a movie like “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” runs the risk of facing two vastly different reactions. It could end up being too earnest and sentimental for the more calloused hearts. But it could also be just the kind of warm and touching movie some people are yearning for during this strangely turbulent moment in time. I tend to fall in with the latter group. If only the movie delivered on its potential.

“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is the third film from video essayist turned filmmaker Kogonada. His previous two indie features, “Columbus” (2017) and “After Yang” (2021), both left long-lasting impressions on me while vividly defining Kogonada’s keen visual craftsmanship and distinct approach to storytelling. His latest veers slightly more mainstream while maintaining a semblance of the quiet patient rhythm and introspective gaze from his earlier works.

The problem is Kogonada’s virtuosity can’t fully make up for the film’s biggest issue – the script. Rather than directing his own material as he did with “Columbus” and “After Yang”, this time Kogonada works from a screenplay written by Seth Reiss. To be fair, the script has its strengths. There are several pure moments of heart and humanity. And the characters are given more than enough space to develop. Even more, its themes of memory and reflection are the very ideas that Kogonada has shown to be interested in.

But “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” can’t quite live up to its enticing title, mostly because its script is littered with shortcuts and slow patches. There are several times where the story jumps from one point to the next, skipping information and details it doesn’t seem interested in sharing. Even more, there are other instances where any momentum grinds to a halt. It can be maddeningly lethargic as it sluggishly navigates a tale with surprisingly little substance.

The movie certainly has the star power in Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie. But they’re somewhat of a mismatched pair, struggling to develop the kind of chemistry a story like this desperately needs but doesn’t provide. Farrell plays David, a lonely New Yorker on his way to a friend’s wedding. He stops at the generically named The Car Rental Agency where he’s greeted by two oddball attendants (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They give him the keys to a 1994 Saturn, complete with a very unique GPS.

At the wedding David has an abrupt meet-cute with fellow lost soul, Sarah (Margot Robbie). She’s a straightforward free-spirit who does some playful flirting with him before going her own way. Later, as David is leaving, his now seemingly sentient GPS guides him to a Burger King where he unexpectedly bumps into Sarah. This kicks off an unexpected road trip of self-reflection as David and Sarah follow the GPS to a series of doors standing in remote locations, each transporting them to specific moments from their individual pasts.

Though their lives have followed dramatically different paths, David and Sarah possess a similar sense of emptiness. Learning who they are by revisiting their pasts is the story’s most interesting thread. Some doorway adventures work better than others by giving us some crisp insight into who these characters are. Others are either drawn out for too long or play out exactly how you would expect them to. But what slows things down the most are the conversations in between them. Farrell and Robbie do their very best to make the dialogue meaningful. But for every good exchange there are two that go nowhere.

As for the more obvious question of who or what brought David and Sarah together and who or what is guiding their journey? Well, who knows? Is it fate, destiny, or something else supernatural? We’re never told or shown. The film shows no real interest in explaining in detail or even lightly ruminating. Perhaps in a better movie it wouldn’t matter. But with “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”, I found myself searching for something to grab my imagination. Kogonada’s striking visuals could only do it for so long. And my affection for Farrell and Robbie just left me wishing they had been given better material to work with.

VERDICT – 2 STARS