Review of movie Five Feet Apart

×

Rating:3.5/5

Both Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will Newman (Cole Sprouse) suffer from the genetic disorder and life-threatening incurable illness cystic fibrosis (CF), which affects their lungs. Stella tries to battle her illness using social media to educate people on how it affects patients. She’s also extremely mindful about her medical regimen, by keeping track and organizing her pills using an app that she made. On the other hand, Will throws caution to the wind as he believes they are living on borrowed time, and prefers to make the most of their short lives. CF patients need to be kept 6 feet apart as they suffer the risk of contracting infections. This becomes a big hindrance when Stella and Will fall in love with each other. 

If the very notion of this plot makes you go weak in your knees, then this film is definitely for you. Falling firmly within the ‘tragic romance’ genre, ‘Five Feet Apart’ follows the typical clichés one would expect from this by-the-numbers setup. Chances are that tears will also be shed along the way. But it has a few surprises as well. For one, Haley Lu Richardson displays an impressive range and depth in her performance. This allows us to become engrossed with Stella Grant’s coping mechanisms while celebrating her small victories. Stella’s arc anchors the narrative down, especially when the screenplay feels stretched out. As soon as Stella meets Will, you know they’re going to fall for each other, but the plot takes its time to get there. Cole Sprouse as Will is also charming and effective. But it doesn’t help that he’s tasked with clunky dialogue particularly in a pivotal scene during the climax that makes him comes across quite cheesy.