If you look back on the past decades of cinema, we get the same set of genre films every year. You have your small scale horror films, a mixed bag of comedies, the recent superhero uprising, at least one Adam Sandler excuse for a film, and lastly a romantic drama to boot. This month we have the latest in the long standing genre in Me Before You, directed by first time-director Thea Sharrock, who had mostly plied her trade in theater work, and starring two stars from two of the biggest franchises around.

Based on the novel (only knew so from the opening) by Jojo Moyes, who also wrote the screenplay for this, sets us up with Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones), a recently unemployed town girl who soon finds work as the caretaker to Will Taynor (Sam Claflin/Sugar Cubes guy from The Hunger Games), a member of the upper class who was wheelchair-bound after a tragic car accident. Initially cold and ignorant towards his new guardian, Clark's charm and exuberance soon wins Will and his heart over...... wait, this sounds exactly like the plot of the 2011 French film The Intouchables, starring François Cluzet & Omar Sy, or a romantic/fan-fiction version of it anyway. Charles Dance (also of GoT), Janet McTeer, Matthew Lewis (well if it isn't Neville Longbottom), Steve Peacocke and Jenna Coleman round out the supporting casts, but the highlights of Me Before You, and the reasons you may be weeping your eyes out, is definitely on Will's unfortunate daily struggles being confined to a wheelchair (though the ending has its share of controversy with the disabled community), and the eventual blossoming relationship between these two attractive stars.

Claflin really shows the range of his acting despite portraying a broken paralyzed on a wheelchair, as he overcomes the physical and emotional demands required for the role, while he does share great chemistry with Emilia Clarke's Louisa. Emilia Clarke on the other hand is simply oozing with charisma and enthusiasm, a bit too much perhaps, as the socially awkward caretaker bent on changing Treynor's mindset. However, outside of her interaction with Claflin, for which she does spent a hefty amount of screentime with, serves as the weaker points in this fairly cheesy drama. Her romance with Patrick (Lewis) also seemed unnecessary, and solely as a means to ensure both sides of the relationship had their own sort of emotional baggage before they could get together, while Jenna Coleman certainly steals the screen whenever she's on screen with Clarke.

Those who are tired of the annual Nicholas Sparks adaptations, or found The Fault in Our Stars too pretentious, Me Before You is an adequate/serviceable, if not better offering if you're in the mood to see two attractive stars fall over heels for each other on screen, even if the standard plot is one love story we've witnessed time after time. If you're still inclined with a film centered on a wheelchair-bound aristocrat bonding with his carer, you're much better off with the aforementioned The Intouchables, for which I can tell you is a film you can enjoy, especially if you love ones with subtitles 😉

6.5 / 10