Me Before You – Review

At first glance, you’d expect Me Before You to be just like The Theory of Everything. I wasn’t familiar with the book so what I expected was a young British couple involving a man bound to a wheelchair and a woman who comes and changes his life. This is essentially the basic plot outline. But instead of a girl struggling through the development of a disease, it is a girl entering in the aftermath of a life changing disability. Though they had some strong moments and the story was intriguing enough to keep you in your seat, the overused tropes and excessive montages clouded the film and gave the impression of this being a high-budget B-quality movie.

Knowing this is a chick flick based on a romance novel, you can’t escape the trite characters, overly extravagant settings, and jumpy plot progression. It’s sappy and unoriginal, but decent enough to just watch and pass the time. Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin were casted well but the other characters felt stuffy. The appearance of Matthew Lewis was the first time I’ve seen him outside of Harry Potter and it’s weird. The trailer was intriguing and the film definitely delivered on the mushiness, but you just can’t take romance novel adaptations seriously and this one was no different.