EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING – Review

So the big Summer movie season is a couple of weeks old, and we’ve gotten several of the big action/sci-fi/fantasy blockbusters and a raunchy R-rated buddy comedy (well mom and daughter). What other warm weather genre’s left? Those “family friendly” CGI animated features will be here shortly, but in the meantime here’s another flick culled from the “young adult” section of the library or bookstore (or online lit source). It’s not part of a series like those HUNGER GAMES or DIVERGENT, no teens saving the planet in a dystopian future. This is a “one-off” romance, much like the surprise (to studio execs) hit from three years ago, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. We’ve got yet another pair of young lovers falling in love while the “grim reaper” lurks close by (GR’s a busy dude between this and the usual onslaught of horror films). Seems to be a popular pairing in these tales, as we learn by the all-encompassing EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING.

Eighteen year-old Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) leads a very sheltered, sterile life, made so by her genetic malady, severe combined immunodeficiency (AKA SCID). Her body has no defences against the everyday germs and microbes of the outside world. She must stay inside the house she shares with her widowed mother, Dr. Pauline Whittier (Anika Noni Rose). There’s a sterilization chamber complete with scrub station at the front door (which looks more like the entrance to a spaceship), that allows Pauline to spend her days working at the hospital. Maddy spends her days with a housekeeper/care-giver Carla (Ana de la Reguera) while she studies online (architecture and literature reviews are her “thing”) and stares out the big windows. But while gazing one day she spots a moving van at the house next door (it’s a high-end “so-Cal” suburb). And who’s getting his skateboard out, but dreamy Olly (Nick Robinson). Later that night he and his sister show up at the Whittier home and present Pauline with a “hi neighbor” bundt cake. She kindly declines the snack and briskly sends the duo on their way. But wouldn’t you know it, the view from Maddy’s bedroom looks right down upon the window of Olly’s. He scribbles his number on the window and they begin a fervent text and email correspondence. She explains her situation, but Olly is not deterred. Knowing that her mother will not allow it, Maddy begs Carla to admit Olly into the home for a daytime visit. But when Pauline finds evidence of the tryst, Carla is fired and a new, strict maid/nurse is hired. This only makes Maddy more determined. After a brief dash outdoors (with no ill effects), she makes a plan. Ordering plane tickets online, she convinces Olly to join her on an adventure. But could it be her last one?

The producers were truly creative with the casting of this story’s heroine. You might think they’d go with a waif-like model in order to convey Maddie’s fragile condition, perhaps wane and sickly. Stenberg is quite the opposite, her Maddie is an energetic, healthy girl. Beyond appearances, she shows us every emotion through her expressive  eyes and body language. We see her go from a timid mouse to roaring lioness. It’s no wonder that Olly is quickly smitten. Robinson is a teen dream, as if just yanked out of a “boy band”. But her makes Olly more than a fantasy beau, especially as he expresses his frustration with his family’s struggles. Rose makes the best of her role that’s close to being the film’s “bad guy” (other than those deadly germs). There’s a soft tenderness in her scenes with Stenberg, but that dissolves quickly when the outside threatens Maddy’s safety. The opposite may be Reguera as Maddy’s nurturing pal, the “good cop” to Pauline). She’s also protective of Maddy, but often she’s an encouraging giggly older sister. This brings extra depth to her dismissal scene, as if Carla’s being torn from her own flesh and blood.

Unfortunately the “deck is stacked” against this engaging cast, their efforts blunted by slack direction and a soggy script. The impact of the romance is dulled by some narrative choices that don’t work. For instance, how can you make texting work on film? At first we see the replies pop up and animate, much like thought “balloons” in a cartoon or comic book. And we hear the actors’ voice reciting them. Then we see them reciting the text to each other. But to show that this is happening in their minds, the setting is the interior of one of Maddy’s architectural assignment models, complete with a mute wacky astronaut (’cause he’s protected from the environment too, get it?). When the two leads are really sharing the same space, they discuss math, while cute subtitles reveal what they’re really thinking (homage to a Best Picture Oscar winner from 40 years ago, or rip-off?). Oh, and we get a cutesy animated intro to SCID at the film’s start (blood cells with eyes and fists, oh boy). And when the film makers aren’t subjecting us to cloying, precious bits of whimsy, we’re pummeled by dialogue culled from the Facebook platitude meme shop (“Life is more than just living”, etc.). The “big escape” seems implausible (they get through all that airport security without a blip) and the final confrontation has no real emotional pay-off. Maybe this was to take the shiny gleam over the big end dissolve, but the story just runs out of any dramatic juice. In all, there’s just not much, not much to EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING.

1.5 Out of 5

Tune into the Paul Harris Show on 550 KTRS AM to hear me review this and other current films on Friday, May 19 at 4 PM. To get the live stream click here.