Every Day

Quirky, enjoyable teen rom-com.

Pays a big debt to Groundhog Day, and doesn't avoid that. Switching clock radios to the iPhone age. Asking the question, in an image obsessed era can you still fall in love with a person's soul?

This is an antidote to toxic teenage cynicism. There's a fun playfulness to Every Day, a film saying to its audience - that if you want to find love, you've got to look beyond the surface.

And the film looks like it will run out of gas, but finds a nifty way to resolve itself. Upper-end popcorn romance.

The romantic comedy and drama series, are two genres that often go hand and hand. Unfortunately these movies often lack in the unique department, copying each other's story like Hallmark copies its own plots. Yet, they still reign supreme in the movie world, unafraid to remain the cute, cuddly, and melodramatic. This weekend though, another book adapted to movie takes a shot at relieving us from this mundane rush, to add a little flair back into the romantic atmosphere. My review, as you can read, is on Every Day, starring Angourie Rice and a mess of other young actors. What is in store? Read on to find out my friends.

LIKES:

Acting: Many romantic comedies involving teenagers are often overacted performances that are not easy for me to stomach in the volumes I see movies in. Every Day on the other hand manage to keep the acting in check, with performances that felt like kids in every day high school. As the central character, Rice did a fantastic job of handling the teenager caught between so many lives that require her energy to invest in. As for the remainder of the cast, all the extras from the jerk boyfriend (Justice Smit) to the final host of A all have their parts to play, and each represent there lifestyle stigmatism well. Such a dynamic cast kept things fun, and the story more intriguing than the run of the mill romance.

The Morals: The story is primarily a love story, but amidst the kissing, hugging, and cuddling is a strong series of ethical dilemmas that the characters must face. It starts with the common moral dilemma of finding respectful love vs. settling, teaching young kids that love does exist outside the realms of popularity and physical aspects. Soon Rhiannon (Rice) starts crashing into things such as familial discord, self-identity, and trying to move on from something because it's the right thing to do. Her ever changing opposite (A) also has plenty to face with his powers too, as each person he inhabits has issues themselves that constantly challenge his happiness and ability to have a life he so desires. These head scratchers are perfect for the young minds to soak up into and good refresher for any, leaving you reviewing your own ideas upon exiting the theater. Nevertheless, these ideas are well-baked into the tale, perfect to drive the story more.

The Twist: Let's face it, romantic comedies have difficulty with surprising me, the plots so predictable and similar that one can't help but try to fight sleep sometimes. Every Day's twist to the story doesn't defy the predictability in terms of ending, but the concept itself is the intriguing part to this story. The premise of having your love interest switch to a new body every day crosses a bridge most people haven't attempted to and it worked for me. Seeing what new adventures they would go on, how they would solve the next problem, and even how they would make this whole endeavor work were some of the questions keeping me invested in the movie. However, the biggest question of who or what A is, that is the real thing I tried to figure out. So many mysteries amidst the romantic atmosphere makes this movie stand out.

DISLIKES:

The Predictability: The movie has such a unique twist, one was hoping to have a unique ending in the works as well. Every Day's presentation may stand out, but it's ending falls back in line with the usual endings that this genre is famous for. While a bit vague at points and somewhat lackluster given the build-up they were providing. However, one should be able to see the ending coming from a mile away, and despite being on the realistic, ethically inclined side, it still lacks the emotional shine you had hoped to see.

Problems Swept Under the Rug: I mentioned how much I liked the ethics in this film and the real life portrayals of the problems that plague the world. I also would have liked to see those problems have a little more development, pacing, and satisfying conclusion than what I got. The love aspect get the most attention, there's a surprise, but as for the other dilemmas, well they get the quick treatment. Some of these make sense because again they are one life A must live and maximize, however Rhiannon's family problems are ones that she has to live with constantly, so perhaps they should have cultivated a little more integration of these problems into the movie. It would have made an interesting side story to help integrate her family into the picture, providing yet another aspect to help with this awkward relationship.

Unrealistic: No duh, a person switching lives every day is totally unrealistic, however that's not the component I'm talking about. Instead, Rhiannon's unrealistic component is how little her school work and discipline suffers despite skipping as much as she does. If many had pulled the antics she did, they would have been expelled, fortunately the power of love seemed to have rescued them. This component is ignorable to most, but for me it was cheesy and unobtainable, only taking away for the story.

Unanswered questions: The movie invests an entire ten minute dialogue to try to explain the origins of A's powers. As such, at the end I was hoping for some actual answers and hopefully get a nice tie up to A's journey of body invasion. Once again, story fails to fill in the gaps, giving little information to clarify the fog of A's life, in favor of teaching a lesson about moving on. Yeah, they took the emotionally stirring route, but in terms of story, they should have closed this book much better in regards to answers.

MY VERDICT:

Every Day breaks the mold on the typical romantic comedy presentation with its unique concept of a lover switching bodies with each passing 24 hours. All the morals that come with this responsibility add an extra layer to the a generic plot, helping to keep your mind engaged instead of rapidly decaying into a lazy sponge that rom coms have come up with. And those twists that seemed so admirable, didn't quite reach the pinnacle of what I'm sure the book was able to accomplish. Problems are ignored or swiftly wrapped up, the ending still remains predictable and sadly the questions raised are left only slightly answered. Therefore, this romantic comedy stands out on some qualities, but still drowns in the mundane tactics that Hollywood has become. So worth a trip to the movie theater? Mixed results on this, but overall hold out for Redbox or a date night film at best.

My scores are:

Drama/Fantasy/Romance: 7.0 Movie overall: 5.5

You just have to accept its science-fiction or fantasy central conceit because there's never really an explanation, though nor should there have been, and, while its concept is often explored and does certainly play a large role in the narrative, 'Every Day (2018)' definitely doesn't otherwise occupy those two genres as it's deeply rooted in teen-romance territory - fairly realistic and grounded teen-romance territory, at that. It's obviously enhanced by the premise but not really dictated by it, despite the interesting and looming presence it has. The flick may sound like schlocky, sentimental fare but it is far from the sort and actually navigates it's unique narrative rather deftly, quickly getting you on board with its 'out there' elements and making sure that every incarnation of its body-swapping character feels like a proper continuation of the same person. It's never too predictable or clichéd but does usually play it pretty safe, aside from its satisfyingly ballsy and one-step-ahead-of-the-audience ending. It also doesn't go far enough in certain directions that may be tried-and-tested, but are only so for good reason, to compensate for the fact that it also doesn't quite stretch far into its newer territory to be anything other than surprisingly good for what it is, though. It's much better than I was expecting, but the core concept does feel like it could've been explored further. Perhaps that's something to be saved for another day. 6/10

Forget polygamy, hows about dating someone new every day? Well, the same someone who happens to inhabit a different skin upon waking. Great premise for a movie, so here we are.

"Every Day" is one of those giddy teen fantasies riding on a boffo, supernatural twist, that attempts to handle a crazy concept in a serious manner. And it kinda works. Works because the topics at hand - relationships, diversity and why we love - are universal enough to carry a twilight zone scenario.

What could have been a comedic mess, or a ridiculous sci-fi drama, instead turns out to be a charming, clever little film, delivering a table full of food for thought. Sure it gets a bit sappy at times, but the tissue industry needs the support.

When I read the premise, I felt it was a rip on the YouTube series, without giving credit. But I decided to watch it anyway. And, I really enjoyed it. Since its a teen romance type drama, something I haven't watched since my own teens back in the 80s, I watched it without that fore knowledge. The only YA I watch are sci-fi or fantasy based films.

So, to watch Every Day and to still have it hold my attention and keep me captivated, without all the flash bang effects of other CGI multi-million $ productions, it did a very good job. Time is precious to me and taking it out to watch a film, I usually wouldn't watch and yet still enjoy as much as I did this one, was well worth it.

The portrayals were great and the lead did an awesome job.