The Life List: “Ghosted” Corned Beef Hash 🥁 🥁 🥁 1/2
/Directed by: Adam Brooks
Year Released: 2025
Starring: Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, Connie Britton, Sebastian de Souza
(PG-13, 125 min.)
Genre: Drama, Romance
“Do something every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Can you remember your 13-year-old self? Your first teenage years when everything was exciting, crazy, scary, and amazing all at once?
Now what if you had made a “life list” then, what some have called a teenage bucket list, and it was both shallow and sophisticated, gutsy and gut-wrenching, whimsical, and worldly?
Now you have forgotten all those silly quests, life has knocked you around, and you have settled for so much less.
So your wise and wonderful mother has to wake you up, even if it is from beyond her grave, with a will as kooky and mysterious as you were way back then.
Here it is list in all its “glory”:
“Find true love
Learn to drive
Read Moby Dick
Go all out in a mosh pit (Different Drummer had to look that one up)
Play one-on-one with a New York Knick
Camp under the full moon
Get a tattoo
Do stand up for once in my life. I’m funny
Help People and make a difference
Learn to play Clair de Lune so Mom will finally shut up about it.
Make peace not war with Dad.
Be a great teacher”
You might surprise yourself and fall in love with this “cosy Netflix weepie,” a film about grief, family, love, dreams, heartbreak and the courage to strive for the life you truly want rather than the one you've settled for.
Along the way Alex finds out that Mom (Connie Britton) is not quite as wise and wonderful as her daughter imagines, admitting her shortcomings herself in a series of tapes Alex must earn by completing each item on the list. Well, mostly. Some are optional such as getting a tattoo or learning to drive (New Yorker Alex has managed quite fine without ever driving in that metropolis).
***
So, we really cannot quite compare her to Salvador, the wonderful father in A Million Miles Away, a migrant worker who wants a better life for his son. Salvador’s recipe for success is from his life learned wisdom, not from his 13-year-old self:
Ingredient 1- Find Your Goal
Ingredient 2- Know How Far You Are
Ingredient 3- Draw A Roadmap
Ingredient 4- If You Don’t Know How, Learn
Ingredient 5- When You Think You’ve Made It, You Probably Have to Work Harder
***
But that doesn’t stop the gradually empowered Alex, who starts out slow, bogged down with Moby Dick as did most of us – yes, even Different Drummer herself, who became an English teacher. But that bogged down Alex encounters someone on the train who also confesses his apathy for Melville’s classic, Garret, (Sebastian de Souza), and the sparks begin to fly.
But for some, the flashy Garret – PhD, luxurious apartment overlooking the city, influential friends and ready charm – doesn’t seem right.
Yes, he is the antithesis of the old Alex’s Finn (Michael Rowland) – the less said about him the better – but is Alex jumping out of the frying pan into the fire?
It’s the bearer of the will, the unpretentious young lawyer Brad (Kye Allen), who seems real, right down to the bits of his lunch usually adorning his tie.
Watch this tasty escape that like La Dolce Villa and even Made in Italy, starts out a little cheesy and cliched, but surprises with hidden depths only masquerading as cliches.
And finally, what Different Drummer and just about all other romantics at heart want to know. It’s not whether Alex will get a tattoo or read Moby Dick, right? It’s the first one. Will she ever find true love?
Her sister-in-law helps her out. Here are the 4 most important questions. You might find yourself checking them out yourself and weighing the possibilities in your own romantic escapades.
1. Is he kind?
2. Can you tell him everything in your heart?
3. Does he help you become the best version of yourself?
4. Can you imagine him as the father of your children?
***
So do what Alex does. Don’t settle, even in your streaming choices, reaching for the latest let-down sequel, the ultra-violent horror fest, or confine yourself to your old favorite classics.
Branch out and try this little whimsy of a film. I think you’ll like it
–Kathy Borich
🥁 🥁 🥁 1/2
Trailer
Film-Loving Foodie
We see clips of dinner parties and fabulous layouts at high end charity dinners, but the real food I have chosen is the one that never gets eaten.
Without giving too much away, it has something to do with “making peace not war” with Alex’s dad. But it’s not the restaurant food where they get off to a very rough start, Alex blaming him for her parent’s divorce.
It’s another untouched breakfast, this one at a hotel in Vermont where she expects to meet with Johnny, a musician who has written a song about her mother.
He says they make “pretty good” corned beef hash there and plans to meet her for breakfast the next day to tell her more. But he never shows.
So let’s have that corned beef hash Alex never gets. And let’s strive to make it more than just “pretty good.”
By the way, my mother’s shortcut was to start with the canned variety and add more finely chopped green peppers and onions sautéed in olive oil. More than pretty good, I’d say.
BTW, I hope you like my attempt to keep up with today’s young people by naming the dished “Ghosted”, since Johnny never shows. It’s Alex who is ghosted, of course, but she in turn ghosts the Corned Beef.
“Ghosted” Corned Beef Hash
Ingredients
· 1 large onion finely diced
· 1 large green bell pepper finely diced
· 6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter
· 3 cups (500g) chopped par-cooked potatoes see notes below
· 4 cups (920g) chopped cooked corned beef
· salt and pepper to taste
· 3 green onions minced, optional
Instructions
1. Heat a large cast iron pan to medium heat. Add the butter and once melted add the bell pepper and onions. Cook until soft (about 7-8 minutes).
2. Add the potatoes and corned beef. Spread everything out so that it makes contact and browns. Flip after about 5 minutes and cook again until browned.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste then add the green onion and mix well. Remove the pan from the heat and serve with poached or fried eggs. Enjoy!
