Mostly Manipulative, But Tears are Earned

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2016)

It would be hard to hold back the tears, once 'Me Before You' moves along the emotionally-charged course of its unevenly laid-out entirety. Imbued with charismatic flair and some ravishing sentiments, the Emilia Clarke and Sam Clafflin starrer, is every hopeless romantic dream. It is bound to recreate the familiar 'heaven and earth' trope, with all its utter predictabilities and tiring cheesy clichés, but here, the tears are mostly rightfully earned.
Clarke's Lou, emerges as the brightest asset of this manipulative drama, her buoyant demeanor creates an affectionate atmosphere for this whole fairytale-ish attempt whose often leaning towards emotional tragedy is ever screaming at every turn of the proceedings. Her sprightly charm makes an indispensible compensation for the largely stale performance pulled by Clafflin who plays here, a quadriplegic near real-life prince, who enlisted the service of Clarke's caregiver character. But together they conjure magic, enough to sprinkle their often predictable storyline with heart-crippling charm.
The biggest flaw of this film, perhaps, is how it seemed written to manipulate. That is not to say it isn't effective, because in fact it often works, but you would still think, and wonder, how more beautiful it would have become, had it been written with pure authenticity. Be that as it may, you've got to give it to those at its helm for molding an extremely poignant drama, that even if its often undermined by its easily recognizable motives, isn't devoid of wit, humor, and charm, and jaw-dropping glamor from two of the most beautiful faces to ever star in such romantic tragedy.