Have you ever felt like you are simply going through life without any direction?  While this is not a feeling that is the soul purview of Christians, I suspect that those who sincerely practice the Faith often ask themselves this question.  Having a vocation does not mean you stop growing.  It is in this last concept that there is an intersection between Christians and the rest of society.  These days, there is an emphasis placed on personal growth.  It takes the form of completing goals, learning, or some other activity that is not designed simply for socio-economic gain.  In this regard, I give you my review of The Life List.  It may not have any connection to Christianity, but for something that ignores the centrality of God in this world and our lives, it is pretty darn good.

Before Alex (Sofia Carson) is reminded that she had made The Life List, her friends and families would not have said that she is living a good life.  Her mother, Elizabeth (Connie Britton), the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the makeup empire Rose Cosmetics, thinks this as she knows her daughter will be late for the baby shower being held at mom’s house.  Alex and her boyfriend, aspiring video game designer Finn (Michael Rowland), are sitting in a car outside debating whether to go inside.  She does not want to face questions about him, why she is no longer teaching, or the fact that she does not have her own place.  They go in anyway, and at the end of the night, mother and daughter get to have some private time.  Elizabeth does not have good news.  The cancer she had been fighting has returned, and she will soon die.  Alex protests, saying that she will move back and do whatever she can to help, but Elizabeth stymies any further objections.  Elizabeth wants Alex to get on with the rest of her young life.  Once Elizabeth passes, everyone expects Alex to be the one to take over Rose Cosmetics.  Instead, that goes to her sister-in-law.  What she is given by Brad (Kyle Allen), the attorney and executor handling the estate, is an envelope to be opened when she is alone.  Once she is by herself, she finds a digital versatile disc (DVD) with a recording of her mother.  On it, Elizabeth references a piece of paper she had found, written by Alex when she was thirteen, with a series of goals the teenager had wanted to accomplish.  Some of these things are silly, like camping under a full moon, dancing in a mosh pit, and getting a tattoo.  Others are bigger, like becoming a great teacher, finding true love, and having a harmonious relationship with her dad, Samuel (José Zúñiga).  There are other items on the list, but to describe them all would be tedious, so we will focus on these three because they take up the most time.  Because of how closely Brad worked with Elizabeth in creating her will, he helps Alex whenever he can.  His first assist is to get Alex a teaching position at a local woman’s shelter that fills the educational needs of orphaned high schoolers.  On her way to her first day, she meets Garrett (Sebastian de Souza).  He turns out to be a counselor at the facility.  Since she had left Finn when it became evident that he was not the one based on a set of questions left her by Elizabeth, Alex is free to begin dating the erudite therapist.  Garrett is also there to give advice on Alex’s one problem student, Ezra (Luca Padovan), who stubbornly refuses any attempt on her part to relate.  That is a minor frustration.  A bigger one is the relationship with Samuel.  She attempts to have dinner with him, but it ends sooner than planned when old problems arise.  Before they part, he reveals a secret he had long kept to himself: that he is not her real father.  Her biological dad is a musician named Johnny (Jordi Mollá).  As always, Brad volunteers to use the firm’s resources find this person.  Alex and Brad’s lives get more intertwined when it turns out that Brad and Garrett know each other, running into one another at a charity function.  This is different from all the other times they meet in order for Brad to give Alex another DVD pertaining to each item that is checked off the list.  At one of these appointments, she talks about her concerns about Garrett, discussing personal matters with Brad as she had done since the beginning of their interactions.  Alex is disappointed that Garrett had not shown much interest in her life.  With Brad’s encouragement, she asks Garrett to come to her place for a dinner party and to stay the night.  Once the festivities wind down, he complains that he felt bewildered by the company she keeps, saying they have nothing in common.  Feeling slighted, she does not stop him when he leaves.  This creates a problem because he had been scheduled to drive her to Vermont to finally meet Johnny once her long lost parent had been found.  Naturally, Brad and his girlfriend, Nina (Maria Jung), volunteer to give her a lift.  Still, as they are checking into the hotel, Nina can tell a bond has been forming between Alex and Brad.  It leads to Nina breaking up with Brad, though he does not tell Alex until the next day.  In the meantime, they go to hear Johnny play, and Brad leaves Alex alone while she converses with her father.  Father and daughter agree to meet the next morning, but overnight Alex and Brad have too much to drink and sleep with each other.  Sadly, it is not until they drive home, with Alex sad that Johnny did not appear that morning, for Brad to reveal what had transpired with Nina.  By this point, she has come to the end of the year given to finish all the tasks.  Going back to the law office, she is surprised when it is the senior partner, Mr. Sullivan (Jonathan Lipnick), instead of Brad, who comes to finalize the will.  In the end, Elizabeth knew that finding true love in a year might not be doable, so Alex receives her inheritance, which was her mom’s house.  Finally, with some advice on fighting for the things you love, she goes to Brad and we close with them kissing.

Of course, the conclusion of The Life List is nothing new.  This is also not meant as a complaint as I loved the movie.  I could have done without some of the promiscuity, and brief drug use, but otherwise I rooted for Alex.  Early in the film, she had been drifting towards whatever felt comfortable and safe for her life, and that is why Elizabeth felt the list to be of the utmost importance.  It reminds me of a quote from Pope Benedict XVI, one I have referenced in other reviews, that says, “The world offers you comfort.  But you were not made for comfort.  You were made for greatness.”  A lot of what Alex does throughout the film involves stepping out of that proverbial comfort zone.  It is not solely what I described in the synopsis.  At one point, she goes to a comedy club and does a short set of jokes, even though some of it involves a repartee with a rude heckler.  Another is learning to play Claude Debussy’s famous piece “Clair de Lune” on the piano, and performing it at a recital.  Had this involved any kind of connection with God, I would tell you that her doing these things involves putting trust in Him who created us.  By itself, trust is not easy, let alone giving it to Someone that is usually hidden from us, at least visually.  It is this difficulty that I think is at least partially responsible for the decline of Christianity in the West, but that is a discussion for another time.  What Alex has to come to accept is that everything is going to be okay, even with the death of her beloved mother.  No matter what, it is safe to pursue the things she had longed for because she has a lot of support around her.  It would be nice if she would recognize the blessing that they are in a Christian context, but that is expecting too much on my part.  Either way, God is the only real assurance we need, especially if we follow His will.

If I had my way, there would be more movies like The Life List.  Unfortunately, they tend to get panned because their ending is too cliché or whatever.  What is wrong with a story that you can feel good about?  Does everything need to be raunchy or violent?  While there is a little sexuality to it, they are brief and do not overwhelm what is otherwise a solid tale.