THE LIFE LIST

Name: THE LIFE LIST
Item: THE LIFE LIST
Author: Review

"Complete the List and Change Your Life"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

In Netflix's movie THE LIFE LIST, Alex is given a set of tasks by her recently deceased mother—complete a list of accomplishments written by her 13-year-old self before receiving her mom’s inheritance as an adult. From learning to drive, to finishing “Moby Dick,” to finding true love, Alex works to finish the list — and changes her life in the process, learning about herself, her mother, and what she wants from life

THE LIFE LIST is a moving story of a woman’s grief journey; something lead actress Sofia Carson portrays masterfully. The movie emphasizes family, helping others, and being yourself. There are several scenes stressing the importance of motherhood, as well as the rejection of financial greed. However, there are many obscenities, adulterous relationships, a same-sex couple, and dysfunctional family dynamics, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(BB, LLL, S, A, DD, Ho M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

A strong moral worldview, with characters working to be good friends and family members (ex. despite her difficult relationship with her dad, it’s important to Alex to repair her relationship with him), help others (Alex and Garrett work at a women's shelter and put on a fundraiser, while Brad does pro bono for the shelter), and go after what they want (Alex and Brad both find the confidence to return to teaching and ask for a promotion, respectively). A strong emphasis on the importance of motherhood, with Elizabeth talking about how important being a mom was to her and also counsels her daughter to find true love with man who she could picture being the father of her children;

Foul Language:

26 obscenities, including one “f” word, 5 obscenities;

Violence:

No violence;

Sex:

Alex finds out that her dad is not her biological father and that her mother had an adulterous affair, it’s implied that Alex and Garrett have had sex (in one scene, Alex wakes up next to him), in one scene, Alex’s friend introduces her girlfriend, Alex and Brad have sex but nothing graphic is shown, Alex’s brother talks about losing his virginity in high school;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

Many scenes featuring alcohol use, but all are social settings and not to excess;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

In one scene, characters take weed edibles, and in another, Alex and her brothers smoke pot; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

One of Alex’s students is extremely disrespectful to her (ex. snatching something out of her hand, leaving class without asking, dumping books she gave him in a puddle, giving her the middle finger) but the two eventually have a close relationship. There are also dysfunctional family dynamics shown throughout, as Alex has a complicated relationship with her father and brothers. However, they all reconcile by the end of the movie and are very close.

More Detail:

In Netflix’s movie THE LIFE LIST, Alex is given a set of tasks by her recently deceased mother—complete a list of accomplishments written by her 13-year-old self before receiving her mom’s inheritance as an adult. In the process, she learns about herself, her mother, and what she wants from life.

Alex is floundering — she’s given up her dream of teaching, is working at her mother’s cosmetics company, and is in a relationship with a slacker boyfriend. Even worse, her mother, Elizabeth, tells her that her cancer has returned, and there’s nothing the doctors can do.

Months later, after Elizabeth’s death, Alex and her siblings gather for the reading of the will. While her brothers and their wives receive gifts, Alex learns she’s fired from her job at her mother’s company and will receive her inheritance upon completing “The Life List” — a list of life goals Alex wrote for herself at 13. Brad, her family’s lawyer, tells her that once she completes an item on the list, he will give her a DVD her mother recorded before her death.

Alex is initially reluctant, but she takes on the challenge after watching the first DVD. She dumps her boyfriend, moves back into her childhood home, and begins crossing items off the list, from doing a stand-up comedy routine at an open mic to finally reading “Moby Dick.”

She also grows closer to Brad, who tells her about a job opening at a women’s shelter where he does pro bono work. Alex begins teaching English to the shelter’s children and strikes up a relationship with Garrett, the shelter’s coordinator.

Alex continues to work on the list, dancing in a mosh pit and learning to play “Clair de Lune” on the piano, but worries she isn’t dating Garrett for the right reasons (one of the items on her list is “find true love”).

As her friendship with Brad deepens and her priorities become clearer, Alex must decide if she’s ready to go after what she wants and live the life she’s dreamt of.

THE LIFE LIST is a heartfelt movie that gives equal focus to Alex’s relationship with her family members and her romantic prospects. It has a sweet script, and lead actress Sofia Carson gives a moving performance.

THE LIFE LIST has a moral worldview, as characters work to be good friends and family members, help those in need, and go after what they want. Elizabeth frequently talks about how important being a mother is to her, and many characters do charity work throughout the movie.

There is also a running theme of rejecting greed, as Alex makes it abundantly clear that completing the list isn’t about the money she will receive. However, the movie contains dozens of obscenities, adulterous relationships, a same-sex couple, and some dysfunctional family dynamics, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.