Five Feet Apart – Review

Directed by: Justin Baldoni

Runtime: 116 minutes

I’d like to begin with a short segment entitled: “Things I learnt from Five Feet Apart”. First, Cystic Fibrosis is a shitty illness. Second, Cole Sprouse likes to play quiet, brooding teenagers who have a heart of gold for quiet, nerdy women. And third (and probably most depressing of all), Dylan Sprouse is not doing so well. Five Feet Apart follows two teenagers who are suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF), an illness so severe, damaging the lungs and digestive system, that CF patients need to remain six feet apart from any other sufferers to avoid passing any bacteria or infections. Naturally, this makes for quite an awkward romance as our two teenage protagonists, Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will (Cole Sprouse), inevitably fall in love.

The casting for this film is actually great for its target audience of young adults. Richardson is incredibly likable as Stella, portraying a strong and independent young woman who can handle the world and her illness with grace. She navigates a peculiar teenage existence but is still highly relatable, as we see her FaceTiming with her friends and working on her YouTube channel trying to educate the world about cystic fibrosis. Poe (Moises Arias), Stella’s best friend and fellow teenage sufferer of CF, is also adorable—he and Stella nicely bounce off each other with an accurate portrayal of young friendship. Cole Sprouse’s Will is plausible but sometimes infuriating, as he makes cliché decisions and maddening actions.

The romance in the film is frustrating at times. Will often comes across as manipulative and creepy rather than charming and supportive. Yes, Cole is a hunky young man and Riverdale is “Like totally awesome,” but his character could have used more work. Not only does Stella offer to help him with his medical regiment (due to her mild OCD), but he acts like he’s doing her a favour and insists on drawing her in return. Ugh, sorry Hollywood, but at no point is asking to draw someone a super normal thing to do that will send a woman into a frenzy. Personally, I would search frantically for my mace. The other interaction that bothered me is when Stella opens up about the death of her sister. Clearly unexpected and heart-wrenching for Stella, she finally opens up describing how her sister broke her neck and died drowning. Rather than being supportive, or simply listening—proving that he understood her heart ache—Will says that they are all going to die just like her: drowning, but without the water. Well gee, thanks for cheering me up there buddy. Is that Stella’s response? No. Instead she laughs and undresses in front of him. This interaction just didn’t sit right with me and left a sour taste in my mouth.

The climax of the film did subvert my expectations initially, but it still feels like contrived drama for drama’s sake. After some difficult news, Stella decides she wants to see the lights (something only briefly mentioned earlier in the film) and the two set off to ‘live a little’ or something… Not only was this decision out of character for Stella, but it seems to function only to provide a dramatic/romantic scenario for our two lovers. Even though Stella’s change of heart in the back end of the film is understandable, it still seems forced. By the time these two characters are finally able to make contact (sort of), it feels like a moment added for the young teenage girls watching, rather than what these incredibly disciplined young teenagers would have chosen. But perhaps I’m just out of touch?

Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the characters and the notion of dealing with a terminal illness from a young age, but a few beats in the film just fell short for me. Being able to display a young, strong woman who is actively taking charge of her life is refreshing in a young teen romance (ugh, Twilight anyone?) and the concept of love without any physical contact is touching (no pun intended). However, at the same time, Will’s character has too many irredeemable moments and the drama ends up seeming a little manufactured. Perhaps this is what the younger age demographic desires? In the meantime, I’m going to Google “Dylan Sprouse acting credits” and bum myself out a little more…