Putting Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell opposite one another in a romcom would appear to be a perfect recipe. However, the recent release of A Big Bold Beautiful Journey would beg to differ. The film, released on September 19, has received mixed reviews from fans and critics alike.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a 2025 American romantic fantasy film directed by Kogonada and written by Seth Reiss. The film stars Kevin Kline, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge alongside Robbie and Farrell.
The film’s synopsis reads: “Some doors bring you to your past. Some doors lead you to your future. And some doors change everything. Sarah (Robbie) and David (Farell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present… and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.”
But a Big Bold Beautiful Journey has received a poor score of just 36% from the critics of Rotten Tomatoes. Their consensus states: “Too solemn to have much fun with its high concept while also too saccharine for its wistful themes to resonate, this well-meaning odyssey never quite lives up to its title.”
The critics have proved conflicted in their reviews.
Collider’s review reads: “It’s incredibly likely that A Big Bold Beautiful Journey would have been a more successful, pointed commentary on love and memories had it been written by Kogonada himself. The screenplay by Reiss is too eccentric and full of empty statements about life that result in the movie not working like it should.
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey tries to be too big and too bold, when it’s the smaller moments in which this film becomes a beautiful journey.”
The Guardian’s review offered up three stars and said: “The unreality of the film never quite equates to dishonesty about what exactly happens when two people not in the first flush of youth decide to be in love, but it takes an effort of will to suspend disbelief and submit to a well-intentioned fantasy.”
Another critic wrote: “The film is laden with schmaltz without offering anything that hasn’t already been pinned to thousands of Pinterest boards. Live, laugh, love!”
“By turns painfully whimsical and deeply moving, it’s one big beautiful mess that could have been bolder,” a fourth added.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is out in UK cinemas now.