University:
Sam Houston State University
Course:
ENGL 3334 | Literature and Film
Academic year:

2020
Views:

280

Pages:

1
Author:

esfredint7qo

Me Before You Film Review Book and Film Review For those naturally prone to the movie cry — the kind that leaves you in a weepy mess after The Notebook, Love Story, et al. — crocodile tears await in the romantic drama Me Before You. But you’re not a cold-hearted snake if they don’t come. Because emotionally manipulative and melodramatic as it is, Me Before You (««½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Friday) doesn’t strike as concrete a bond as it should between a gruff yet hunky quadriplegic Will (Sam Claflin) and his quirky and loving caregiver Lou (Emilia Clarke). In their small English town, she's a good-hearted sort whose flightiness doesn’t help on the job front. After getting sacked from her bakery job and put on a financial guilt trip by her working-class dad (Brendan Coyle of Downton Abbey fame), Lou takes a flyer on a gig at the local castle to help out Will. Once a banker on the rise, he was left paralyzed after a motorcycle accident two years prior. Lou is hired mainly to be his friend, though she has her work cut out for her since he’s mentally prepared for an assisted suicide and tends to be cruel to anyone in range of his caustic wit. That doesn’t deter the smiley, positive-thinking Lou, who puts together a list of things he needs to do before meeting his fate. Feelings grow between the two, a shock to only those who just watch action films. Not one but two Ed Sheeran songs and some seriously milquetoast musical fare get audiences primed for the torrent of emotions to come, though at least director Thea Sharrock doesn’t go full Nicholas Sparks in her first feature film: There is a rainstorm, there is a kiss, but no one gets soaking wet. Best known for being a no-nonsense dragon queen on Game of Thrones, Clarke does well going the complete opposite way as the oddball Lou. The character flirts with being a young Bridget Jones type at first, and wears an infinite number of butterfly-adorned clothes and weird legwear, but Clarke shines as the insecure softie who winds up made of sterner stuff. Claflin’s Will, meanwhile, goes from mountain-man beard to clean-shaven square jaw, and that follicular journey matches his arc of absolute jerk to caring dude. Solid in the role, he and Clarke do have some chemistry together, but nothing that’s bound to leave you wrecked one way or another by the end. Jojo Moyes adapted her own best-selling book, which helps give Me Before You a singular inviting vibe instead of feeling like The Fault in Our Stars 2. That said, she leans hard into her messaging — “Live boldly” and “Don’t settle” aren’t so much words to live by as mantras forcibly hashtagged onto your brain. Or your hankie.