'Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell's new movie has been labelled a boring mess. I loved it.'

Harry Styles once said, "It's a movie that feels like a real movie."

Now, that was a perfect — if ridiculous — description of his film Don't Worry Darling, but I also think it applies to Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell's latest cinematic adventure called A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

Thanks to its picture-perfect magical realism, it's almost like a movie you would find within a movie.

As though we could zoom out at the end of this movie to find another movie where a fictional version of Emma Stone was tearfully sitting in the cinema watching it all unfold, before strolling home along New York City streets to her inextricably large and beautiful apartment to ponder the meaning of life. You know?

It's fantastical and a little bit weird (if not weird enough). It's one of those pleasant movies where nothing really happens (except the full spectrum of human emotions and some time-travelling magic).

Early reviews for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey have been largely unkind, and I can appreciate their points. The film currently has a 45% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it everything from 'boring' to 'insufferable' to 'pretentious'. Someone called it a 'whimsy bomb'.

Turns out I enjoyed it — quite a lot — but it's not for everyone. That much is clear.

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie's movie has divided fandoms. Image: Sony Pictures.

Robbie and Farrell star as Sarah and David, two strangers who meet at a friend's wedding and share an evening riddled with quirky, confusing flirtation that fizzles out due to their own personal insecurities and self-doubt.

When Sarah's car won't start the day after the wedding, she gleefully joins David on his drive home. But the magical GPS in his Subaru has other plans.

Oh, yes, they both rented cars from the same place in their nondescript capital city and Sarah's "craps out" just as David's own whimsical navigation system begins to guide them through the countryside.

And in this surreal version of our world, a sentient GPS who knows your name and leads you to a magical door in the middle of the forest is enough for an eyebrow raise, but not enough for the characters to have a "normal-person-seeing-crazy-shit" meltdown. So, there's that! You must suspend your disbelief and simply embrace whatever level of magic is happening here.

The plot of the film is simple: as they walk through the various doors appearing before them on their journey, Sarah and David get to relive some of the most important moments from their respective pasts. When they're not time-travelling through memories, they're talking about their dating history (she cheats! He hasn't found the one!) as they continue driving nowhere in particular.

Whether it's David reliving his devastating romantic rejection during his High School musical performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, or Sarah experiencing emotionally fraught memories of her mother, we see the moments that shaped them into the scarred commitment-phobes they are today.

It's basic symbolism; opening the door to all of your scariest memories to uncover your true self lurking behind the layers of cynicism and emotional armour. Sharing all of your greatest wounds with someone new and daring them to stay anyway.

I get the bad reviews. In reality, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is probably a somewhat shallow exploration of love, grief, and self-acceptance that's been wrapped in a bright red Hollywood bow. It was a potentially wonderful film that frustratingly failed to deliver on the grand fantasy and sweeping romance it promised.

It could have been great — but for some viewers, like me, there's still a lot to love about this "generic" story. Not every movie has to be the best thing to happen to cinema since The Godfather.

Call me a basic bitch, I still enjoyed this film. Image: Sony Pictures.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is stunning in all of its Californian scenery, visual symmetry and dreamlike colours. For the aesthetics alone, I'll tell you to see this movie. It's like a dazzling musical without musical numbers (well, except for one) but the soundtrack does feature the perfect mix of fanciful strings and synthy pop hits.

With small appearances from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Kevin Kline and Jodie Turner Smith — alongside our A-list leads — this film boasts an impressive cast for its small number of characters.

Where this movie has been let down is the tonally inconsistent script by Seth Reiss, which saw Robbie and Farrell struggling at times. Despite this, I enjoyed their chemistry and would gladly see them on-screen together again.

The closest I can get to describing the weird feeling that washed over me as I watched the movie, is that it felt like watching a book-to-screen adaptation that forgot to include the ultimate crescendo. Like an amalgamation of beloved books from recent years — think The Midnight Library or The Unmaking Of June Farrow — without one final plot twist.

I simultaneously loved this movie for what it was and yet, found myself wondering what went wrong here.

But it's 24 hours later and I can't stop thinking about it. I will absolutely be watching it again, even if some people thoroughly dislike it and have labelled it a mess.

I know this movie is divisive because when the credits rolled, the entire Mamamia team was split over whether or not this was a "good" movie.

Perhaps, to quote my friend Harry Styles, it's simply a movie that feels like a real movie. One that could be good or bad and would entirely depend upon who you are and where you're at with your own personal romantic and family relationships.

So, just sit back, relax, and see if you enjoy the journey.

Watch the trailer for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is in cinemas now.

Feature Image: Sony Pictures.