A Surprising Watch: Although it can be cringy, The Life List is a solid Netflix comfort watch

As I sat down to watch Netflix’s “The Life List” on my couch, I have to admit I was prepared to hate it, as I have with most recent Netflix originals.

The movie opens with Alex Rose, a young adult who gave up her dream job as a teacher to work for her mom, and her video-game enthused deadbeat boyfriend, Finn, attending a family event at her childhood home.

Although I cringed through the first ten minutes, filled to the brim with tropes and embarrassing familial situations, I started to warm up to Alex’s mom, Elizabeth. Always giving the right amount of life advice with just a touch of wit, Elizabeth was the first character that made me give this movie a second thought.

Elizabeth — like me — was not a fan of Finn, and also urged Alex to go back to teaching and reach for her full potential. These are all valid points — why would you give up on something that you truly loved?

Of course, as soon as I’m settling into their cute mother-daughter relationship, the writers decide ‘now is a great time to give Elizabeth terminal cancer.’ But rather than dealing with the grief of her mother’s early death, the film took a more comedic — and at times nonsensical — route that both made me both smile and cringe.

At the will reading, conveniently run by a young, attractive lawyer — I wonder where that will go — Alex’s two brothers are left with essentially all assets. Alex, however, inherits a “Life List” written by herself at 13 years old, containing her unfulfilled goals.

That’s right. Alex — arguably her mother’s favorite child — is only given a list of goals for herself to achieve, and a DVD. The lawyer, Brad, instructs a rightfully angry Alex that her mother wanted her to complete items on the list in return for a DVD after each item and an envelope for completing the whole list before the year ends.

The list includes random items like “Go all out in a mosh pit,” to heavier goals like “Find true love.” Although the mosh pit scene had me cringing, the overall randomness of the list emulated what it’s like to be a 13-year-old with nothing but stupid ideas and raw passion for life.

Although some of the slang and dialogue were a little bit outdated for a thirty-something woman — sorry, I don’t think you should be saying “bro” during conversations with other adults — the more Alex moved through her Life List, the more surprised I was at how much I was enjoying myself.

Unfortunately, the film becomes an unexpected rom-com, with lackluster romantic interests sharing almost zero chemistry with Alex.

Alex spends the movie hoping to get her last DVD of her mother and is a step closer to her dream life as a teacher and a woman. She also becomes closer with Brad as the movie progresses, which fueled my hopes for a satisfying romance.

Storyline aside, the sets of the movie all felt lived-in, and the cozy color grading made me want to grab a cup of tea.

Although this movie had more tropes — and love interests — than I could count, I was won over by the relationship between Alex and her mother, as well as the realistic friendship, and eventual relationship, between Alex and Brad.

In a Netflix original, you can never expect perfect writing or groundbreaking cinematography, but I was perfectly happy to find a new rainy day rom-com.