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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.

Reference:
Truitt, B. (2016). Review: ‘Me Before You’ will leave you wanting more. USA Today. Retrieved on August 8, 2016 from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/06/02/review-me-before-you-movie/85263964/

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