Bookish Movie Review : Everything, Everything

Synopsis: Maddy is a smart, curious and imaginative 18-year-old who is unable to leave the protection of the hermetically-sealed environment within her house because of an illness. Olly is the boy next door who won't let that stop them from being together. Gazing through windows and talking only through texts, Maddy and Olly form a deep bond that leads them to risk everything to be together, even if it means losing everything.

Release date: May 19, 2017 (USA)

Director: Stella Meghie

Adapted from: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Production companies: Alloy Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Trailer:

Cast:

Maddy Whittier played by Amandla Stenberg

Olly Bright played by Nick Robinson

 Dr. Pauline Whittier, Maddy’s mother, played by Anika Noni Rose

Carla, Maddy's nurse, played by Ana de la Reguera 

 Kara Bright, Olly’s younger sister, played by Taylor Hickson  

Rosa, Carla's daughter played by Danube Hermosillo

My Review:

Rating: 

One-word Review: Everything

From the moment I watched the trailer for Everything, Everything I was smitten. I NEEDED to see the movie set to hit the big screen months later.

I was chomping on the bit as the countdown drew nearer to the release date. We purchased tickets in advance.

Movie Day: Fruit snacks in hand, I settled into my reclining seat and theater AC as I anxiously waiting the previews to be over.

Then Magic!

From start to finish.

I did not blink once. 

The on-screen chemistry between Olly and Maddy was perfect! Amandla and Nick did such a superb job playing Maddy and Olly, as individual characters and as a couple. The quirkiness, the romantic and awkward tension was so on point - especially the scene when Olly Visited Maddy in the Sun-room.

The character-actor dynamic was fantastic - they vibe together very well. The screenplay writer and the casting director did a great jobs translating the characters from book to screen and choosing the actors to play them. 

The scene settings were exactly how I imagined them to be, while I was reading Everything, Everything, and more. Although, I wish the Sun-room was more of a sunny room - more windows, to be honest. But other than that, Maddy's sterile home, Olly's dark boyish room, the trip to Hawaii, were cinematic visions.


Serendipity: 

-Olly covers Maddy’s window with photos of the ocean in the book *key:swoon*

-Text conversations transport Maddy and Olly into her architectural models.

-Rosa, Carla's daughter, had more of a prominent role in the film than in the book; they were friends in the film but not in the book

Maddy,

Every ocean deserves to be seen by you.

Peeves: 

-The lack of emphasis on Maddy's favorite book, The Little Prince. And therefore, to the ending when Maddy tells Olly to find The Little Prince in the bookstore. Olly not only shows up, but finds the book. And Maddy. Boom! But, in the movie, Maddy just texts him to meet her in the bookstore. Talk about boring and a flop!

All in all, Everything, Everything is a fantastic cinematic rendition of its novel. If you have not gone to see it, you must!

Happy Reading!