A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY

The film starts as a man named David (Colin Farrell) is getting ready to go to a wedding. He finds a boot on his car, and then sees a flyer for a place called “The Car Rental Agency”. David goes to the given address and enters a large warehouse with only two people, known as “The Mechanic” (Kevin Kline) and “The Cashier” (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They make him go through some kind of audition before telling him which car they are letting him rent (a 1994 Saturn SL) and ask if he would like to include the GPS. David says yes.

David drives to the wedding, where he is introduced to a woman named Sarah (Margot Robbie). While there is a mutual attraction between them, Sarah tells David that he ought not to pursue her. Sarah goes to dance, but David says he doesn’t dance. He watches in regret as she dances with another man. David goes to his room alone while Sarah spends the night with the man.

The following day, David is driving home, when the voice of the GPS (Jodie Turner-Smith) asks him if he would like to go on “a big bold beautiful journey”. David is hesitant but the GPS grows passionate and convinces David to say yes. He is made to stop at a Burger King, where he runs into Sarah again. They chat more about relationships, as David has always wanted to be a father and husband, but Sarah has never had relationships work out for her.

As the two prepare to go their separate ways once more, Sarah’s rental car won’t start, and David’s GPS instructs him to pick her up. She accepts the invitation. The two drive off until the GPS makes them stop in the woods and walk up to a big red door that just happens to be in the middle of the area. David and Sarah are surprised to enter a new room when they walk through it. David recognizes it as a lighthouse in Canada that he visited on a trip with his mother. The two go to the top and enjoy the view.

On their next stop, David and Sarah are told to stop in a field and go through a door that has graffiti on it. When they walk through it, Sarah knows they are in her favorite art museum that she visited with her mother when she was still alive. The security guard there allows Sarah to take a flashlight and explore the place after hours. David and Sarah look at a painting of two people sitting down with a brushstroke covering their faces, which was her mother’s favorite.

The two proceed on their journey, where David asks Sarah why she is single. She tells him that she has a tendency to cheat even when her partner is a perfect match. They come upon their next stop, a door that is inside a greenhouse. David recognizes it as the doors to his high school, making him more nervous to step inside. They return to David when he was 15 and about to star in his school’s production of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and he was about to tell his crush Cheryl (Chloe East) how he felt about her, and how this is the day she rejected him for another older boy.

David is forced to perform in the show as J. Pierrepont Finch again before telling Cheryl how he feels and reliving the pain of that night, while Sarah is seated near David’s parents (Hamish Linklater and Jennifer Grant). However, he takes it a step further by telling her during the show onstage about her future and how she marries and divorces another guy. The show gets into the number for “Been A Long Day”, with Cheryl walking off in embarrassment, so Sarah saves David by singing the song with him before the audience joins in, and they run off together after it ends.

The two continue the drive as night falls. Sarah realizes that David is falling for her, but she tells him not to go after her. David stops the car, somehow transporting them to a black box theater where they walk through the doors to a hospital. This is the night that Sarah’s mother died, except she was originally not there that night. She speaks to the nurse, who confirms that her mother died an hour earlier, and Sarah goes to her bedside to tell her about David. Meanwhile, David ends up finding his father, who is worried over the premature birth of his son and his new role as a father. David tries to comfort him. Sarah later explains to David that she always had guilt over this night because she was having an affair with her college professor instead of being there for her mother. They leave with stuff from the gift shop, and David mentions on the drive that his mother left the family when he was younger.

Moving along, David and Sarah are brought to a mountaintop where they get a look at the entire planet. They talk about what it might have been like if they had gone to the wedding together before they share their first kiss.

On their next stop, the two come upon a billboard with the next hidden door, one they both seem to recognize. David and Sarah end up in a cafe, where they come face-to-face with both of their former partners. David is confronted by his ex-fiance (Sarah Gadon) over why he ended their engagement, and him having to explain that he fell out of love with her. Sarah is forced to tell her ex-boyfriend (Billy Magnussen) that she is going to leave him in the middle of the night without explanation. They all end up at the same table, where David and Sarah have to admit their shortcomings to their former loves.

Back on the road, the car gets hit by a deer. It then breaks down and catches fire after David and Sarah get out. Sarah takes this as a sign that they should end the journey now before either one of them gets hurt. David expresses his love for Sarah but she thinks he is just falling for a fantasy. The two take separate rooms at the nearby inn.

In the morning, David and Sarah are surprised to find that the car has been fixed by The Mechanic. David drives Sarah back to her car, and they part ways. Their cars then guide them to two final doors, which lead them to their childhood homes. David finds himself in the position of his father, going to comfort his 15-year-old self after Cheryl’s rejection and spending the evening with him. Sarah is 12 again and relives a pleasant memory with her mother (Lily Rabe). This gives both of them some needed closure.

David goes to return the car. He meets the Cashier and Mechanic again, asking if they try to set people up with their soulmates, something they find amusing. He finds his own headshot, along with a woman that was supposed to pick up her car, but Sarah ended up being the “understudy” to take the car instead.

Later, Sarah goes to return her car and then decides to try to find David. She ends up at the front of his apartment and admits her love for him, willing to give their relationship a shot. They kiss and go into his apartment.