Notes

Me Before You
Book and Film Review
For those naturally prone to the movie cry — the kind that leaves you in a weepy mess after The
Notebook, Love Story, et al. — crocodile tears await in the romantic drama Me Before You.
But you‟re not a cold-hearted snake if they don‟t come. Because emotionally manipulative and
melodramatic as it is, Me Before You (««½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide
Friday) doesn‟t strike as concrete a bond as it should between a gruff yet hunky quadriplegic
Will (Sam Claflin) and his quirky and loving caregiver Lou (Emilia Clarke).
In their small English town, she's a good-hearted sort whose flightiness doesn‟t help on the job
front. After getting sacked from her bakery job and put on a financial guilt trip by her workingclass dad (Brendan Coyle of Downton Abbey fame), Lou takes a flyer on a gig at the local castle
to help out Will.
Once a banker on the rise, he was left paralyzed after a motorcycle accident two years prior. Lou
is hired mainly to be his friend, though she has her work cut out for her since he‟s mentally
prepared for an assisted suicide and tends to be cruel to anyone in range of his caustic wit. That
doesn‟t deter the smiley, positive-thinking Lou, who puts together a list of things he needs to do
before meeting his fate. Feelings grow between the two, a shock to only those who just watch
action films.
Not one but two Ed Sheeran songs and some seriously milquetoast musical fare get audiences
primed for the torrent of emotions to come, though at least director Thea Sharrock doesn‟t go full
Nicholas Sparks in her first feature film: There is a rainstorm, there is a kiss, but no one gets
soaking wet.
Best known for being a no-nonsense dragon queen on Game of Thrones, Clarke does well going
the complete opposite way as the oddball Lou. The character flirts with being a young Bridget
Jones type at first, and wears an infinite number of butterfly-adorned clothes and weird legwear,
but Clarke shines as the insecure softie who winds up made of sterner stuff.
Claflin‟s Will, meanwhile, goes from mountain-man beard to clean-shaven square jaw, and that
follicular journey matches his arc of absolute jerk to caring dude. Solid in the role, he and Clarke
do have some chemistry together, but nothing that‟s bound to leave you wrecked one way or
another by the end.
Jojo Moyes adapted her own best-selling book, which helps give Me Before You a singular
inviting vibe instead of feeling like The Fault in Our Stars 2. That said, she leans hard into her
messaging — “Live boldly” and “Don‟t settle” aren‟t so much words to live by as mantras
forcibly hashtagged onto your brain. Or your hankie