So, I really loved this movie. The focus on the mother-daughter relationship with a life hunt and romantic subplots pulls me into The Life List (2025) immediately. Not only did it make for a movie that never leaves you bored, it also gave a huge emotional impact due to many different factors. There was a lot to like about this movie and only a few things that made me really mad…. However, I’ll go over everything (and give you a warning before any spoilers) below. 

The Writing: This was probably one of my favorite parts about the movie as a whole. The plot and writing (and emotions intertwined into the writing) were absolutely beautiful. I feel like most emotional scenes hit their mark and I honestly teared up for a few of the better scenes. Everything in the beginning made sense, and as the plot progressed, you get to see each event unravel in a satisfying (for the most part) and realistic way. 

The Characters (and Actors):  Sofia Carson as Alex did an AMAZING job. I loved her acting, her emotions, and her goofy demeanor. Kyle Allen as Brad was already a winner before I even watched him onscreen. I don’t know what it is, but Kyle Allen just has this goofy, nerdy, boyish cuteness that you cannot resist. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise because you can’t change my mind. The chemistry between him and Sofia as Brad and Alex was just perfect and led to a very realistic feeling romance. However, some of the decisions that the characters made ended up making me really disappointed in parts of the movie (I’ll go into that more in the spoilers). 

Directorial Decisions: I usually don’t make a lot of mention for the directors (which I totally should because they put in a TON of work for movies to make them happen), but I just had to mention Adam Brooks’ decisions as a director because I loved them so much.

There are scenes where the transitions just make such a huge impact on the movie. Obviously, Alex’s mother dies (very first five minutes ish of the movie). There is a beautiful transition from Alex and her mother to just Alex that hits you so hard emotionally. That directorial decision was SO GOOD. There are also scenes in the movie where there’s a classical song playing, and then moving into the next scene it’s the same song just in a different genre of music to match the scene more. I thought this was so cool because it gives you this sense of “everything is the same but still totally different”. I really nerd-ed out over it!!

The Ending: The ending was honestly completely satisfying, but there were a couple of things that felt incomplete. I still have a couple of questions, and I would have liked a little more closure for certain things. Overall, though, it was a good ending.

Spoilers ahead.

Alright, with the plot, I absolutely hate hate HATED that Alex and Brad end up having an affair. I get that Brad had broken up with Nina (Maria Jung), but Alex didn’t know that. I get that Alex was probably about to break up with Garrett (Sebastian de Souza) anyway, but they were technically still together. I lose so much respect for characters when scenes like this are thrown into a movie just to move the romantic plot forward. I DON’T NEED THOSE SCENES. We are normalizing cheating on other people and I’m not here for it at all. I still loved Alex and Brad together, but I think it would have been so much better had they gotten together without breaking the trust of other romantic partners. 

There were a few other subplots that I wish we could have spent more time on. First was with Ezra (Luca Padovan), I wish we could have seen Alex actually build more of that relationship with him. Although, I seriously loved the scene where he brought her the “letter” to himself that was basically his own self portrait. I wanted to see more of Alex teaching overall, which I think is why I was disappointed with this specific subplot. 

The other one that I wanted to be wrapped up more was with her father (Jordi Mollà). How could he have been so genuine when they meet for the first time and then just abandon her again? That felt super underdeveloped. 

Last subplot that disappointed me was the wrap up with Nina and Brad. I get that Netflix’s The Life List (2025) was already a long ish movie, but I was really let down when all we get between Brad and Nina is hearsay about a fight and a breakup. I felt like Nina deserved more than that and wish we could have had some kind of talk between her and Brad or even her and Alex.

With the ending, I still have a few questions lingering when everything was said and done. First, did her mother not make a DVD for true love? Because it seems like she would have just in case, but there’s no mention of it when Alex gets the final envelope that has her inheritance. 

Overall, this was an emotional movie with a beautiful relationship between a woman and her mother. I think there are so many good things about this movie, and honestly only a few things I didn’t like. This is definitely one of the better originals I have seen this year!

Where to Watch: Netflix