Review of Five Feet Apart (2019) by Compi24 — 19 Mar 2019

I'm sure the filmmakers' intentions were nowhere near this bad, but what I gleaned from "Five Feet Apart" as a depiction of cystic fibrosis is that the disease itself is much less of a debilitating illness as it is a borderline **** plot device that's keeping two horny teenagers from making out, ultimately romanticizing and -- in turn -- minimizing a very un-romantic and serious disease in the real world.

Couple that with all of the treacly, "Everything, Everything" meets "The Fault In Our Stars" sort of sweetness that veers so heavily into quirk that it breaches into insanity, and you end up with a truly frustrating cinematic experience.

Why are we still doing these? What diseases are we going to Hollywood-ize next? Leprosy? Osteogenesis imperfecta? "I can't love you because if we make love I'll LITERALLY fall apart"? It's nonsensical and, most importantly, condescending to those few people who actually struggle with this very real, very unglamorous disease.

At least "The Fault In Our Stars" depicts cancer, something most of us are going to get anyway. And at least the disease in "Everything, Everything" -- you find out -- is simply made up.

This feels like a weird attempt at exploiting an illness for the purposes of manipulating an audience's emotions. I'm tearing into the foundation of this movie hardcore, yes, but it's important that intentions be hammered out in the scripting/development stage.

Like, of paramount importance. Overall, the acting is good, sure. And even the filmmaking borders on competent. But I just can't get behind movies that are this out of touch with reality.