If Christopher Nolan directed Little Women, this is how it would turn out. Gerwig has the chops to do this well, and Ronan is incredible (as always). That being said, in the process of chopping this story’s timeline to gain style, the film loses some of the story’s soul.
When the whiplash from all the timeline shifting settles down and the film settles on a particular timeline, things improve, but the film never achieves the greatness it could. It’s halfway to being an incredible Nolan-inspired piece of razzle-dazzle (which has its place), and halfway to being a sentimental piece of romance, and doesn’t really do either as effectively as it could if it went all-in with one direction.
That being said, there’s obviously lots here to like, so please don’t hate me for this…