Also checked out the romantic movie Me Before You, starring Amelia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame – she brings her natural brunette hair, her killer smile, and her eyebrow mastery to a role so far removed from Danaerys Targaryen, she’s barely recognizable but, I think, she should play light comedy and romance more. If it weren’t for Game of Thrones already, this would be a star-making turn.
Me Before You is a sweet and fun and sad film about a down-on-her-luck girl who takes a job as a kind of assistant care-giver to a depressed quadriplegic man living in a castle in England. Basic premise made lively by Clarke’s rather bubbly character and her wild wardrobe (and even wilder eyebrow game). Can she break him out of his funk in time or will his depression over losing the active life he loved cause him ruin?
I said the movie was sad and it is… but I won’t say why. It’s kind of a frustrating and even enraging storyline at times that you maybe have to step back from and at least give the writer/director credit for having the courage to not back down. All very vague. I’ll also say the movie is fun, adorable, and entirely too cute. Also, maybe not very well paced and it starts to get a little repetitive and sluggish at about the half-way point.
But, still it pulls itself together and manages a strong, emotional ending that I’m still debating whether or not I thought it was earned and heartfelt or maybe a little too manipulative. I’m leaning towards honest.
So, yeah, good movie. A little bit of poor pacing kind of hurt it a little but the performances and a non-traditional ending save it. If you want a good, sweet romantic flick, this is it – just expect to use that box of Kleenex you should bring with you if you are prone to crying in a movie.
Score: 78