When it comes to the romantic drama genre, Hollywood is king. They have been producing these films since films began, because we are all suckers when it comes to romance, whether we admit it or not, and Hollywood knows this better than we do. Scads have been made: "Love Story", "The Notebook", "The Fault of Our Stars", the most recent "The Best of Me" to mention a few. So why not produce yet another romantic drama to get our emotional fix in the form of "Everything, Everything"?
An 18-year-old girl, Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) is unable to leave her home because she has a rare disease, SCID (Severe Chronic Immunodeficiency) that breaks down her immune system which leaves her allergic to almost everything. She lives in a controlled-environment house with specially filtered air and the only ones she is allowed to see is her mother, Pauline (Anika Noni Rose), Carla, her nurse (Ana de la Reguera) and Carla's daughter, Rosa (Danube R. Hermosillo). However, her life changes for the better when she begins to communicate with the boy next door, Olly Bright (Nick Robinson) who just moved in, and their relationship eventually inspires her to venture into the outside world. Time will tell if she is able to handle it, but with love, so much can be conquered.
Others to round out the cast are Taylor Hickson as Kayra, Olly sister, Dan Payne as Joe, Olly's father, Fioni Loewi as Mae, Olly's mother, Robert Lawrenson as Mr. Waterman, Peter Benson as Dr. Chase, Francoise Yip as Dr. Francis and Marion Eisman as Nurse Janet.
This was warmly directed by Stella Meghie ("Jean of the Joneses" '16) plus a short. I say warmly because even at its stronger, more intense scenes, there was still a sense of caring and an underlying feeling of understanding between the characters. She is a relative newcomer, but given more work, she will blossom into the director I believe she can be. It was interestingly written by J. Mills Goodloe ("A Gentleman's Game" '02, "Pride" '07, "The Best of Me" '14, "The Age of Adaline" '15). He is a fairly seasoned writer--look at the resume, however when he was interjecting the different imaginations of the two lead actors within the storyline, it was an interesting move, but it came across a bit choppy. I love the idea, but it could've been conveyed a little smoother than was executed. While most of these films are fairly predictable, this, albeit had a degree of predictability, still had some twists and turns you just don't see coming. This allowed the audience to keep attention to what was going on on the screen, otherwise it would have had a problem with mediocrity. Along with a fairly good script, the chemistry between Robinson and Stenberg was delightful as it was real. These actors should find more work considering the credibility they conveyed. Considering the interesting story, Goodloe's next project "The Mountain Between" is in post production as we speak and should be released later this year. It will be interesting to see how that pans out.
If you're a hopeless romantic, you will love this, but even if you are not, the twists in the writing and the chemistry with the two lead actors, Robinson and Stenberg will surly capture your attention as you watch this film.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 96mins.
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