Everything, Everything - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Everything, Everything


Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Everything, Everything got SMASHED in theaters. I originally thought “oh great, another trainwreck”, and steeled myself for another box office terror. Everything from the trailer appeared cute and benign, but word of mouth was something akin to a burning fire with no kind words to say about the film. After watching the movie I started to wonder WHY the bad press. It was cute, it was kind, there was a sweet (but insipid) love story that was heartwarming. I saw nothing to warrant the hate that I had seen and I was actually enjoying the film. It was nothing new, but it made for a sweet love story that was touching the right places in my overly romantic heart (sorry, I’m a romantic). Then came the twist about an hour into the film and I understood where ALL the hate came from. That twist literally sucked every second of beliveabitlity and joy out of the film, leaving the viewer with this sense of betrayal and “did this just really happen?” by the time the credits rolled. I’m willing to suspend belief, and say “of this is cute”, but the absolute disconnect from reality and from the rest of the story had me cackling like the wicked witch of the west when the third act reveal comes around.

Maddy (Amandla Stenberg) is your average every day girl. She eats, she sleeps, she goes to school online. The only thing is that she’s desperately sick. Maddy suffers from a disease called SCUD… it basically means her immune system is so weak that anything, and I mean ANYTHING can kill her. Thus she has to stay locked inside with a quarantined and decontaminated life that leaves her unable to interact with the outside world. Her mother Pauline (Anika Noni Rose) does her best to keep her daughter safe, but her efforts are in vain when a cute boy named Olly (Nick Robinson) moves in next door. Maddy and Olly fall head over heels in love and the two instantly form a bond that is unbeknownst to Maddy’s mother.

The two start texting to start, and thanks to Maddy’s nurse Carla (Ana de la Reguera) the two actually meet face to face. This whirlwind romance is everything that a young girl can hope for, and soon the two are desperately in love. Unfortunately Maddy’s mother wants the young girl to have NOTHING to do with the young boy in hopes of protecting her daughter, but Maddy has designs of her own. She and Olly head off to Hawaii for a vacation as Maddy is totally in love, and DESPERATE to prove that she can live on her own. The only thing is, Maddy and her illness are still fully in control of her body, and it’s not long before the young girl has to face her condition.

Everything, Everything got MURDERED in theaters. Like I’m talking absolutely SLAUGHTERED at the box office. I went in expecting a complete wreck of a film, but really started enjoying the little romance within the first 15 minutes .Sure, its’ a teenage romance where everything is not exactly thought out ahead of time, but very few romances are. I remember my wife and I courting over 17 years ago, and we had as little grasp on reality as Olly and Maddy did. I was actually blushing and thinking “wow, this is actually kind of cute” by the second half of the movie. Olly and Maddy are REALLY adorable together. Their romance is so sweet and chemistry so real that I honestly started hoping the two of them would be able to get together despite Maddy’s circumstances.

Then comes the twist. Right at about the hour point the film sucker punches you with a twist that comes out of nowhere and completely undermines the sincerity of the film . I’m not going to spoil the exact twist that happens, but it completely guts the last 30 mintutes of the movie. Everything, Everything isn’t meant to be a high quality movie, but I expected it to hit the romantic highlights of storytelling without going completely off the rails. Olly and Maddy are really an adorable couple, and despite the “rebellious teenager” story it was really cute. I was actually rooting for Olly and Maddy to find some middle ground where the two could find some sort of happiness, but the last 30 minutes of the movie introduces a new storyline that completely guts any and all believability At that point I felt like Everything, Everything was just trolling the viewer, and if the book is anything like the movie, then it completely sucker punches you with a change that will have you howling with laughter.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief sensuality




Video:

Everything, Everything is once again one of those films that I CAN NOT find out anything about in terms of its filming style. I would hazard a guess that it is a digital shoot due to the shiny and clean nature of the filming process, but I can’t bee 100% sure. The image is extremely bright and cheery, with and almost clinically palate that really shines in the Blu-ray world. Contrast is well balanced, and the colors are extremely brilliant and bright. Fine details is magnificent, with sharp details and razor sharp clarity form beginning to end. The shoot shows very little flaws in the imagery, and borders on being 100% perfect if it wasn’t for some minor banding and the occasional flicker of crush that mars the image.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA is just what you would expect from a drama. The dialog is the first and foremost point of the movie, and the track replicates that nature to the T. Vocals are crisp and clear, and the surround channels really don’t get a whole lot of activity except for the melodic score. It’s not that he audio is in any way deficient, but that the track really is a drama in nature and that a drama doesn’t exactly require an incredibly three dimensional track from the disc. Audio is perfect, dialog is perfect, and the surrounds are satisfactory with the sweet score. Nothing is out of place, and the audio mix suits the genre just perfectly.






Extras:

• Trapped in Love: The Story of Everything, Everything
• Deleted Scenes

Final Score: ​

I never expected Everything, Everything to be a masterpiece. In fact, I was expecting a mediocre film that would just leave me bored spitless. Instead, I actually really enjoyed the first 1 hour of the film, and then watched as Stella Meghie takes the story COMPLETELY off the rails into uncharted terriftory (I have no idea if the novel went in this direction). I really liked the film up until it pulls the rug from under you, and after that change I understand EXACTLY where all of the hate comes from. The first hour of Everything, Everything is really adorable, and you end up routing for the characters to get together, but it’s the 3rd act twist that really guts the meaning and impact of the film to the point where you’re just begging for the experience to be over. Audio and video are great, and the extras decent, but the whole impact of the film is robbed with a change of pace that really shouldn’t have existed. It's really cute up until the 3rd act, and that alone garners it the appeal of a weak rental.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Amanda Stenberg, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose
Directed by: Stella Meghie
Written by: J. Mills Goodloe (Screenplay), Nicola Yoon (novel)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1 AVC
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English DVS DD 5.1
Studio: Warner
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own Everything Everything on Blu-ray and DVD on August 15 or Own it Now on Digital HD!

Recommendation: Weak Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I may or may not watch this.. Will depend on my mood and if it is on amazon prime/neflix.