The Mother of Dragon's goofiness save the day

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2016)

Romantic dramedies of this sort rise or fall depending on the chemistry of the couple. It is a foregone conclusion they would fall in love but they will have to earn the right to fall into each other's arms. There is no need to give me new twists to the familiar turns; just sell the couple to me and hopefully make me tear up at the end. On that note, Me Before You scores beautifully.
I love watching Emilia Clarke, the Mother of Dragons. Her goofiness, all-out spunk, total honesty, awkward behavior and gaudy sense of fashion lift the chick flick slightly higher than it deserves. It took me 10 seconds and suddenly I don't see the Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Breaker of Chains and the Mother of Dragons. I couldn't take my eyes off her twitching eyebrows which have a life of their own. Sam Calflin plays his character with the right amount of sarcasm and levity; he is believable as a quadriplegic, a man who knows he couldn't ever be the same man again. Both of them turned in authentic performances.
The story goes through the usual paces and there really weren't any surprises, but who cares. The theme of euthanasia wasn't handled with a searing depth, but the theme of living life to the best of your ability rings true. Yeah... We cried but we weren't a mess like we were with The Fault in Our Stars. Me Before You isn't breaking new ground nor did it try to, but it just felt like good comfort food. Sometimes I long for that.