A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

I was on the fence about A Big Bold Beautiful Journey because the trailer didn't really do it for me but I ultimately decided to see it at the Broadway last night because I really like the director Kogonada (I think After Yang is brilliant) as well as actors Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie.  I should have trusted my instincts because I found this very disappointing.  David (Farrell) and Sarah (Robbie), both unhappy and alone, are compelled to rent the same 1994 Saturn SL from a quirky agency in order to attend an out of town wedding.  They meet and immediately decide that they are all wrong for each other but, when Sarah's car won't start, David offers to drive her home.  However, the GPS device (voiced by Jodie Turner-Smith) directs them to stop at various locations where they find doors that are really portals to various moments from their past, both real and imagined, which provide them with epiphanies intended to help them realize that they belong together.  I have to admit that this kind of movie is not really my thing but I think that even fans of the genre will find this as lifeless and boring as I did.  The premise of going back in time to learn from past mistakes is really intriguing but I could never figure out what the characters were meant to learn from these interludes because there are so many conflicting ideas and the filmmakers think they are more profound than they actually are.  Farrell and Robbie are good actors but their performances in this are so bland (Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kevin Kline are more interesting in their brief time on screen as employees of the car rental agency) and they have absolutely no chemistry (at no time did I think the characters belonged together).  The dialogue is incredibly contrived, even for a high concept film, and I started losing interest after yet another endless conversation about how wrong Sarah is for David.  Some of the visuals are gorgeous and I liked all of the Laufey needle drops but this was definitely a slog to get through and I recommend giving it a miss.