sappy romance

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2016)

Louisa "Lou" Clark (Emilia Clarke) makes a cup of tea to solve every problem. She's 26, living at home with her mother, unemployed father, senile grandpa, sister Treena (Jenna Coleman), and Treena's son Tom. She loses her waitress job and the family needs her to get another job. Her boyfriend Patrick is more interested in running than interested in her. The Traynors are the rich family in town and the former lords of the castle. Camilla Traynor (Janet McTeer) hires her for six months to assist her paralyzed son Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) who was run over by a motorcycle two years ago. Will is bitter at losing his globe-trotting outgoing lifestyle with his girlfriend Alicia and high-finance friends. He is cold to the quirky Lou at first. Alicia announces that she's getting married to his former best friend. Then Lou overhears Camilla arguing with her husband Stephen (Charles Dance) about Will's plan to get euthanized in Switzerland in six months. Lou struggles to give Will a reason for living as male nurse Nathan helps her to understand his pain.
This is a sappy romance. There's nothing wrong with that but it's really uninspired in its execution. The best thing in this movie is Emilia Clarke being allowed to be her natural goofy-grin self. This version of her is really charming and winning. The infuriating part is Will's refusal to live his new life. Nathan explains that Will really tried the first year and that he's hiding his painful existence from Lou. The movie does not do a good job portraying that idea and therefore leaves Will's reasoning bare-thread. They need a scene where Will is actively trying to hide his pain. His reason cannot be a lack of a James Bond lifestyle.