All My Life

A soon to be released romantic melodrama of a doomed romance which still manages to be uplifting & soul stirring (& based on a true story by the by!). Starring Jessica Rothe (from the Happy Death Day films) & Harry Shum (from Glee) as a couple that meet cute during college (he works as a software writer but wants to be a chef which she sees right away & pushes him towards that goal) & soon move in together w/a healthy bevy of friends who support them. The wrinkle in the universe comes about in the form of cancer which is caught early (Shum gets a piece of his liver removed) but no sooner does the story progress, his cancer soon becomes the fatal kind spurring the couple & their orbit of friends to come together to plan & execute a wedding before the inevitable happens. Never bringing up the fact they're a mixed race couple is hopefully refreshing (they are a couple that just exists) is a major plus for a film that is entertaining (cue the musical montages) but on such auto-pilot it could be on rails w/a bevy of colorful supporting players like Molly Hagen (from Some Kind of Wonderful) as Rothe's mother, Jay Pharaoh (from SNL) as one Shum's friends, Chrissie Fit (Pitch Perfect 2 & 3) as one Rothe's friends, Ever Carradine (Robert's daughter) as Shum's boss at an eatery, Keala Settle (from The Greatest Showman) as a coffee shop employee & Mario Cantone (from Sex & the City) as a wedding organizer. Kudos to both Rothe & Shum for elevating the material & especially Rothe for acting outside her comfort bubble (coupled w/the Valley Girl remake from earlier this year) to show she has the acting chops to back up her good looks.

Jenn Carter (Jessica Rothe) and Solomon 'Sol' Chau (Harry Shum Jr.) meet, flirt, and get engaged. When he falls ill, they and their friends work to set up a wedding of a lifetime.

This is the standard sickness/romance story based on a real life couple. The most important aspect here is that I love these two actors. Their chemistry is fine. They have a fine meet-cute. Their development in the first half of the movie is a bit flat. Apparently, his cooking is the big dramatic move in that part. The second half has the illness. It is all been done before. Maybe they could condense the first half.

I'm a sucker for a movie based on true events most of the time. This movie didn't disappoint. It makes you think about you and what you are doing with your life right now. Are you happy? Are you living your best life or trying to live in the past? I appreciate this movie and the live that it shared.

This film deals with a hard topic, but it is unrealistically positive and fluffy. Colours are vibrant, people are always happy, and there's always nice food around. It doesn't even tell or show directly about death, which is a main theme in this film.

I really enjoyed this movie. Cheesy, sappy romantic dramas aren't entirely my cup of tea, but All My Life tells an admittedly familiar story with a real can-do attitude, and that makes it an absolute joy to watch. It may never be the tearjerker it often wants to be, but it's a story full of optimism that left me with a smile on my face.

Now, you'll almost certainly have seen romantic dramas that deal with terminal illnesses. More recently, The Fault In Our Stars and Me Before You have both impressed in the genre, but it still feels like a story that's really overplayed in Hollywood.

However, while All My Life is far from innovative in its screenplay, the unique way that it tells such a well-trodden story is really great to see. Based on a true story, the film has an extra level of passion to it, but it's also imbued with a more realist sense of optimism than the melodrama of so many manufactured Hollywood outings.

Almost from the start, you know what's coming, and the film knows it too. So, rather than getting bogged down in telling a depressing, hyperbolic tragedy, All My Life looks on the bright side of life, and really makes your heart sing as a result.

If you're looking for a tearjerker, this isn't your movie. At times, when it wants to be a bit sadder, it's a little too on-the-nose and abrupt, cheapening what is otherwise a very elegant tale.

However, for a film that deals with an often sad story in an energetic and optimistic way, then All My Life is absolutely perfect. Enormously enjoyable from the start as we follow Jessica Rothe and Harry Shum Jr. falling in love, it's a colourful and vibrant affair that's full of far more joy than anguish.

Rothe and Shum Jr. are just perfect together on screen, and though I don't want to say it for fear of sounding like a teenage girl, are a really cute couple that you root for all the way through.

The film's bright, positive energy is so wonderful, and even though the core of its story is very sad, you'll find yourself smiling and laughing from beginning to end here. That's because All My Life follows through on its own message and embraces the best moments in life, without dwelling on the sad.

You can make your own mind up as to whether that's a realistic or ridiculous mentality, but for the 90 minutes that this film runs, it's an absolute joy to sit back and bask in its relentless positivity.

Overall, I really liked All My Life. Yes, it can be cheesy and sappy at times, and it's never the most effective tearjerker. However, with an active and positive attitude to a story that's so often told in irritatingly melodramatic fashion, it's an enormously enjoyable watch, filled with wonderful performances, colourful visuals, humour and an appreciation for the very best that life can offer.