The question that's being raised by many critics about Life or Something Like It is whether the draw of Angelina Jolie can overcome an inane movie. Noting that the plot centers around Jolie's character being told by a psychic that she has only a week to live, John Anderson observes in Newsday: "Ultimately, what we have is a character faced with the possibility that her life is meaningless, vapid and devoid of substance, in a movie that is definitely meaningless, vapid and devoid of substance." Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal notes, however, that many movies have scenes that might be considered slack. "Every now and then, though, a movie comes up with a scene of surpassing stupidity, and then builds from that defining moment to a climax of perfect ineptitude. Life or Something Like It is such an achievement." A.O. Scott in the New York Times begins his review this way: "How is Angelina Jolie like an Altoids mint? Give up? Me, too. But if this strikes you as an intriguing riddle -- or for that matter, as a question of serious import -- then help yourself to Life or Something Like It, a chalky, stale comedy of second chances that opens today nationwide." And if you think the Altoids line is a reach, consider this observation by Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times: "This is an ungainly movie, ill-fitting, with its elbows sticking out where the knees should be." The movie does wind up getting one good review in a major newspaper. Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times calls it "an adroit crow-pleaser" and says that Jolie and costar Edward Burns "exude charisma and the right chemistry."