Irreplaceable You

3/22/18. While the acting was really good (though overdramatic at times), it was really, really depressing. Not sure if this is even a therapeutic movie to watch for those in Mbatha-Raw's circumstances. I get it that she was trying her best to gain some control over a situation in which she has very little control over, it was really depressing nevertheless.

It's not a bad film. It's definitely watchable and I did get a little teary towards the end, so I wouldn't call it soul-less either. It just doesn't have enough soul and it doesn't have enough originality.

In fact, I've recently come up with a category of films that this would totally fit into. It's called "scripts that could have been written by an AI". A successful AI mind you - one that has been fed every produced script on the same topic, but also one that cannot produce anything genre-defying or ground-breaking.

So here's the recipe it operates on:

• Take the "Love Story" (the 1970 film) premise (as used by a million other films between then and now).

• Add a specific take and tension to the story, as previously done by films like "My Life Without Me" (2003)

• Create good chemistry between two stereotypical protagonists (the "loveable and deceptively sexy nerd" male and the "strong, funny, and beautiful" female)

• Add the sidekicks: the "mischievous, promiscuous, but supportive best mate", the "(much older, quirky, and wisecracking) unlikely friend", the "overbearing but still loving" mother, plus a couple more distinct-enough-but-not-too-memorable-so-as-not-to-overshadow-the-protagonists characters.

• Make the photography and styling Instagrammable

• Add a pleasant soundtrack

• Cast a veteran actor in the old-but-quirky role

• Cast a hunk recognisable from an extremely popular TV series to attract the fandom

• Lightly sprinkle on top with quotable wisdoms about the meaning of life and death

And there you have it. Served lukewarm on Netflix.

The premise of this movie had me very excited to watch. I am a sucker for chick flicks, romance movies and tear jerkers so this looked like it would be right in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately this never reached the heights it had the potential to go.

The movie is constructed as a tear jerker but while it gets close at times, they never do a good enough job of creating a close enough relationship with us and the main characters for us to care enough as we would in other great sad movies.

While Gugu Mbatha-Raw is fantastic in this movie, Michael Huisman's performance really drags the movie down as he is infuriating with a lack of emotion about the situation, both lack of sadness but also anger at Abbie's decisions and he just doesn't care enough which makes it hard to invest.

The decision in the middle of the movie that Sam makes is just plain stupid and left me not wanting him to end happy at all. The movie tried too hard to be different when they already had a great idea with a fantastic actress that would have worked if they hadn't tried too hard to be unique.

The supporting parts were well done, particularly Christopher Walken, and I connected much more with his and Abbie's relationship in the movie than I did with Abbie and Sam's.

A final nitpick was that they made the strange decision not to have Abbie appear physically sick at all. Her appearance barely changes throughout and it just makes no sense and once again loses an opportunity for us to connect.

Some great acting overall but it gets dragged down by a bad performance from Michael Huisman and poor writing. So much potential and it is my favorite type of genre but really disappointed with the outcome.

Irreplaceable You is the story of a couple who had been in love since childhood, but their worlds came crashing down when Abbie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is diagnosed with terminal cancer. One of the biggest issues with this film was such a contrast in the tone, because a story about a couple torn apart by cancer seems sad, but the first hour is really upbeat and feels like a romantic comedy, glazing over the impending death like a formality. The tone eventually shifts to a more somber setting, but this contrast was really off-putting and distracted from the movie. That being said, the rest of the film was pretty good. Christopher Walken had a touching lovable character and the two main actors clearly had great on screen chemistry with each other. It was a touching film that really worked the emotions in the latter half, but the first half is so different it barely feels like the same movie. Alone, each half is really good, but together it can be conflicting. Overall a great netflix film for movie night with a significant other. Definitely worth the watch.

Irreplaceable You is a likeable film with talented actors. It's too bad that they did not develop it into more. All in all it boils down to one sentence. "Don't die before you're dead but live until you die". It could have been so much more!