It stars Ewan McGregor as Robert, an aspiring writer who's just been fired from his job as a janitor at a big corporation. To add insult to injury, his girlfriend dumps him and he gets evicted from his apartment. But Robert's ills, it turns out, are part of a bigger scheme. So big, in fact, that it's been sent from above in the form of two angels Jackson (Delroy Lindo) and O'Reilly (Holly Hunter), who've been ordered to have Robert and Celine (Cameron Diaz), the spoiled daughter of his ex-boss, fall in love.

Director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and writer John Hodge have decided to take on the screwball comedy. If one thing can be said about A Life Less Ordinary, it certainly is screwy. The sheer quirkiness factor crashes through the roof, making the picture oddly likable but not altogether successful.

The angels have Robert and Celine's paths cross at her father's office. As Celine is being chided by her father and threatened with the prospect of getting a job, Robert breaks in and demands his job back. One thing leads to another and Robert winds up with a gun to Celine's head and dragging her out to a secluded cabin. Celine, who's been kidnapped before, tutors her all-thumbs captor on the fine points of the game -- how to write a ransom note in her own blood, what tone to take when making threatening calls, etc. Meanwhile, Jackson and O'Reilly have been hired by Celine's father to get his daughter back and kill Robert.