I just want to go on record and say that I have NOT read the book that this film is based on. That being said, this is not a review that will compare the two. Everything, Everything surprised me. I walked out of the theater with a smile on my face. The movie has plenty of flaws and issues, but the chemistry between Maddy (Amandla Stenberg) and Olly (Nick Robinson) makes it enjoyable. Teen romance movies have a bad track record, so it is nice to see one that’s funny, relatable and not a cardboard cut out.
A teenager who’s lived a sheltered life because she’s allergic to everything, falls for the boy who moves in next door.
The movie starts with a good introduction on what Maddy is going through. She suffers from SCID: Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Basically, her immune system is very weak and she could get sick and die easily if she was exposed to certain viruses. She is 18 years old and has never left the house. Enter Olly, the cute boy who moves in next door. Sounds like something you’ve seen before, right? Everything, Everything does nothing new for the teen romance genre. However, it is propelled by great performances and fantastic chemistry between Maddy and Olly. The mother Pauline (Anika Noni Rose) is very protective of Maddy because of her disease and because her husband and son were both killed in a car accident when Maddy was a baby. Maddy is all that Pauline has left. Anika Noni Rose delivers an impressive performance as Pauline. The audience really understands why she is so overprotective of Maddy.
The main aspect that sells the movie is the chemistry between Maddy and Olly, as I touched on earlier. Chemistry between two lead actors who are in love can easily make or break a film. The romance between the two is fantastic, and it really makes you think about the first time you were in love and how that felt. However, one issue with their love is how it just happened so fast. Literally, Olly moves in, they see each other from outside Maddy’s window, and then they just kinda fall in love. Maybe it was “love at first sight”, but it just didn’t work well.
The pacing of the film is great as well. One might think that Everything, Everything is very predictable, but actually not ALL of it is. There is something revealed in the 3rd act that I did not see coming. It really helped the movie be more enjoyable overall.
There were plenty of flaws in the Everything, Everything. It also had the typical corny and cheesy moments that are expected in a teen romance. Some of the dialogue was predictable and slightly over the top. This did not completely take me out of the movie, but it definitely could have been better.
Overall, Everything, Everything was a pretty enjoyable teen romance film. It didn’t break any ground, but it did breathe a little bit of new air in the genre. Great chemistry and above par acting all around made it engaging. Go check it out.
Rating: [star rating=”3.5″]