Movie Review: Five Feet Apart (2019)

Summary: A pair of teenagers with cystic fibrosis meet in a hospital and fall in love, though their disease means they must avoid close physical contact.

Probably spoilers… because I mean… for real?

Pros:

Cast and Characters…sometimes.

• Haley Lu Richardson as Stella Grant. She has cystic fibrosis and is very particular about how she lives her life. She has a plan she follows quite closely and when she meets Will, she notices that he’s like “devil may care” and she ends up pretty much taking over his regime to help him get his little life together. We learn a few things about Stella as the movie goes on but nothing that keeps her interesting. I just find that Richardson was likable and charming and I thought she did really well, especially in that emotional part towards the end. I actually teared up. I mean, Stella is an okay character but Richardson makes her more likable and less bland which I thought she was for the most part.

• Cole Sprouse as Will Newman. Literally the reason why I wanted to watch this movie and he doesn’t disappoint me. Cole Sprouse is very likable in his role and he’s very charming. Will seems to be a kind of wealthy kid; he has an infection in his lungs and is at the hospital for a week long drug trial. He is a bit of a rule breaker and doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do in taking care of himself, taking his pills and all the other stuff. I was expecting him to be a bit more rebellious

• Moisés Arias as Poe Ramirez. He’s Stella’s best friend also has CF and he’s the quirky best friend. He often talks his romances and he’s ultimately there for Stella, six feet apart of course, but he’s there for her. He’s charming and likable in his way as well. Moises Arias is fine, anyone probably could have played Poe. I like the friendship he has with Stella and the one he creates with Will.

• Kimberly Hébert Gregory as Nurse Barbara. Nurse Barb is loving towards her kids she’s in charge of. I love the relationship she has with Stella in particular. She’s like their mother away from home. She’s caring and concerned and she has reasons as to why she can be strict when it comes to allowing the romance. Completely understand her. I even feel bad for her at times because she really just wants to keep these kids alive for as long as she can. I don’t know the actress well but I really liked her, she’s very motherly and charming.

Really Sweet Moments. This movie has some really nice pockets of sweetness. True story, my friend and I were watching it and we were like “ughhh” and then Will comes into Stella’s room when she’s about to have surgery because the thingy in her stomach is infected. Will watched her YouTube videos and saw that her sister Abby used to sing a song to her before a surgery, so he sneaks into the room and HE SINGS THE SONG HER SISTER USED TO SING FOR HER before a surgery. That was so FREAKING SWEET. There are a lot of other moments that are like that in the film.

Main Lead Chemistry. I’m not particularly into the romance between Will and Stella but I did think Richardson and Sprouse had nice chemistry. They were cute when they were interacting but the quiet moments were the best, whenever they were just looking at each other, or weren’t trying to have some conversation.

Nice Soundtrack. The soundtrack was very hopeful and sad at the same time. That is all.

Cons:

Character Development. We don’t get much of it. There are some pieces of dialogue that  say who is a character is and what not, and we get to see who they are in some forms by looking at their hospital rooms but they don’t really grow throughout the film other than falling in love with each other. At least no growth that doesn’t have anything to do with the romance aspect. I was like meh, I don’t really care about these characters. They’re cute I guess but meh.

Cliché/Teen Tropes. In our first attempt to watch this movie, I literally called out all the tropes, particularly that are formulaic in teen movies/stories. Beautiful people are having a hard time, in this they’re sick, and the girl is uptight and the boy is all chill and stuff. They end up becoming friends but they can’t be close because of something, in this it’s because they’re sick. The girl has a quirky best friend who may or may not be a minority, in this he’s a POC AND gay. I could go on and on and it was kind of irritating because it’s so obviously that it’s like “meh, nothing is new in this.”

Boooooring. Usually, I read the book before I see the movie but I didn’t do it for this time… I will read it though, I checked it out from the library to read it, but this movie is so boring! It also felt so long and it’s only 116 minutes. Will and Stella just talk and talk and talk. I guess they can’t do much because of their disease but it’s not interesting to watch them talk.

What Stakes? So, this is clearly trying to be like The Fault in Our Stars, which I really loved both the book and the movie (I don’t like Gus though lol) but it doesn’t necessarily have the same charm or the tension that it thinks it has. At least not consistently. They’re both sick. Will is there for a drug trial but with what he has, and Stella of course having CF. But I did not think that either of them was going to die. At least not for real. I mean there is a death which I totally called because these types of movies always have these moments but outside of that one time, I thought Will was going to die BECAUSE OF STELLA’S STUPID DECISION, that was really it.

The last 20 minutes. I’m not sure if it was exactly the last twenty minutes or not, but something happens and Stella loses her mind and honestly, the acting in her freak out scene was really good and I really felt it to the point where I did tear up, but everything after that got on my nerves. Stella was being really stupid, like I get it, you want to live passionately now but don’t be a dumbass. GAH! Then there’s not really any consequences for what she did. I mean, it doesn’t end in a perfectly happy ending or anything but if I was Will, I would have been way more upset than Will was and I like AHHH! Unrealistic!

Overall, Five Feet Apart is not that great. There are pockets that really stand out as being good but it’s not a consistent occurrence. Haley Lu Richardson is really good in the movie, she’s charming and Cole Sprouse is likable and charming as well. I think they had good chemistry with each other. There are also really strong pockets of sweet moments in the film. But I would say the positive stop there. I didn’t find the characters interesting outside of the good acting. It’s very cliché and really hits all of the teen romance tropes and I found that it was trying too hard to be like other movies of its kind, that are better. Not to mention, it’s super boring. I watched this movie in two sittings and the second time I’m pretty sure I kept making jokes. I also thought there were no stakes, I didn’t think anyone would actually die or have anything really bad happen to the point where I was worried about a happy ending. Plus, the last twenty minutes or so really angered me.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars. 

Have you seen Five Feet Apart? Do you want to? If you like teen romance then sure… check it out if Richardson and Sprouse catch your eye which they are the best parts of the film.