It’s Just a Story: A "Me Before You" Review

Every year, there’s always that one movie that has its eyes on teenagers, women, and maybe a few of my gay friends. This year, that movie would be Me Before You. Initially. I wasn’t familiar with the movie/novel at all, and If I wasn’t following Sam Claflin on Instagram, I’d be clueless about it entirely.

Okay, so we have Ed Sheeran songs plus a familiar face from a popular TV show (Emilia Clarke looks like a normal person, nothing like the Mother of Dragons), and you now have a working formula for a hit chick flick. But then, articles of boycotting the film keep popping up prior to the premiere in the country, although the trailer seemed sweet in the most sugary of ways, so it’s so hard to boycott it. With all the controversy, it made me want to see the movie even more. I had the same feeling when I watched Noah - the more controversial, the more interesting.

The movie started out like many novel-based chick flicks I know - with a solemn life in a happy town. Lou (Emilia Clarke) just got fired from her job at a café, and she found it difficult to get a new job until her agent found an announcement for a caregiver for a disabled man. Then, girl meets disabled brooding boy, Will Traynor (Sam Claflin). He’s the town’s rich kid - used to be a daredevil and lived a carefree life, until his unfortunate accident that led him to have a spinal cord injury. You can guess what happened next - they slowly fall in love, and suddenly Lou finds out that Will has decided to undergo assisted suicide after six months. So, Lou makes it her mission to change Will’s mind by a series of activities and trips.

There was no guilt in enjoying the movie. It definitely had its lighter moments, such as Emilia Clarke’s overly expressive eyebrows. One would definitely want to pinch her cheeks with the lightness of her character. However, the one that surprised me the most was Matt Lewis a.k.a Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter. He plays Lou’s simple health buff boyfriend, Patrick. He made Patrick’s simple-mindedness too likable that it wasn’t too hard laughing along with the rest of the characters. 

Those eyebrows should win an award on their own.

If it weren’t for the suicide part, this movie would be the same as the other John Green-themed stories. There’s nothing positive about suicide. However, it’s not my story, nor is it entirely Will’s story, it’s Lou’s. It’s her journey of finding herself, getting support, and learning to give the support that she’s once failed to have. It seemed that the introduction of assisted suicide was too forced, though. It would’ve been better if they gave more scenes focusing on Will’s depression to justify his decision.

There’s a certain sadness that most people do not understand. It’s always expounded with a lack of friends or weirdness. This movie lacked a bird’s eye view on Will Traynor’s depression on not having the life he once had. Since I’m not Will Traynor, I don’t know what that feels like. His part is too much of a fantasy in my book, but there were parts that are too damn realistic, though. Lou mentioned she’s 26 years old, and then Will points out that she’s still in her “potential” stage. It made me want to vomit.

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