This is a review of the movie Me Before You. There aren’t *spoilers* per say, if you’ve read the book. If you know NOTHING about the story, don’t read. If you know the basic premise and especially about the ending, this is okay to read.
That was a click bait title. Feel free to be mad at me, but it got you here didn’t it?But I did hate Me Before You. I hated the ending just as much I did when reading it. I hated Sam Claflin for making me want him so much. I hated that Louisa Clarke had the confidence to dress in absurd, adorable outfits. I hated their chemistry. I hated the beach scene, so so much.
Basically: Me Before You was perfection.
Me Before You Movie Review
I’m about to be that person: It wasn’t better than the book. It felt a little, too long. Yet it left out some bookish details that you don’t really *need* in a movie (The Traynor’s marriage problems, the stuff that happens with Neville/Patrick, an understanding of WHY Louisa had to work so much and help support her family) At times, the script felt, lacking. I LOVE that Jojo Moyes wrote the screenplay. But I wonder if that was why the script felt that way to me (or I’m just an over critical bitch).
But it did not matter.
Because
Sam Claflin as Will Traynor
and
Emilia Clarke as Louisa Clarke
Were
Magnificent
I never thought of ME Before You as a love story. Did you? Yes, there was love. Yes there was romance, but I think the tragedy was that it was a budding love story. The potential of what could be– if life was just utterly different. Will Traynor, who would have never looked twice at Louisa Clarke, except to maybe hit on her in the way a guy hits on a bartender when trying to impress his friends, could love Lou. This Will could love Lou. The old Will would have never given it a chance. And Lou, precious, adorable quirky Lou, would have fantasized about Will Traynor. She probably DID fantasize about the rich boy who fled town, but she could have had him. They could have fallen deep in love. They could have been happy. But life couldn’t give them that. That is the tragedy. The potential that was never fully realized.
The movie could have pushed that story. They could have really fallen in love. There could have been suggestions of sex (other than the very overt and amazingly sexual suggestion Will makes just one time, on the beach….
I almost took off my clothes right there in the movie theater) they could have made this a love story, but they didn’t. They made this a life story. Jojo Moyes remained true to her story and her characters and the realities they existed within. She didn’t push them farther than they would have gone.
It was beautiful.
Run, do not walk, to your closest CVS, pick up a travel pack of tissues, then skip in your fanciest tights to a theater to see Me Before You. I and the Will Traynor’s of the world demand it.
Just Live
