me before you movie reviews

Me Before You

In this romantic drama, based on a best-seller by a female author that has been devoured by hordes of female readers, a filthy-rich 30-ish man who has shut down his emotions forms a relationship with a fetchingly unsophisticated, younger woman of modest means who is willing to tend to his needs. What starts off as strictly a business proposition eventually grows into a more personal and cozier connection.

Quick, name the movie.

You and your dirty mind are probably thinking “ Fifty Shades of Grey ,” right? Now think again and replace the explicit kink with lovey-dovey canoodling and all that bondage gear with a wheelchair. What you have is “Me Before You,” an exercise not in S&M marathons but an almost completely chaste wallow in sob cinema, the Hollywood prototype of which is “ Love Story .”

Luckily, many of the plot’s maudlin pitfalls are greatly mitigated by the film’s utterly infectious leading lady. Emilia Clarke ’s performance is winningly immersed in charming gawkiness and heartfelt sincerity while sporting a deliriously kitschy wardrobe heavy on eye-popping primary colors and loud butterfly prints. So much so, it might put you in mind of when you first witnessed the blinding incandescence of Julia Roberts’ widescreen-ready smile or the delicate allure of Keira Knightley ’s cameo-locket features. 

Of course, “Game of Thrones” devotees have long been bowing down before this British actress and her impressive display of bewitching bad-assery as the silver-haired dragon-keeper Daenerys Targaryen. But she hasn’t quite broken through on the big screen yet. Instead, she proved all too capable of being as forgettable as anything else in last summer’s “ Terminator Genisys ” as the young Sarah Connor.

But only those who are allergic to adorable clumsiness and dewy-eyed sincerity will be able to resist Clarke as Louisa, a sheltered small-town girl with a big personality, too few ambitions and deep concerns for her family’s economic welfare. She even has a unique secret weapon: A set of incredible dancing eyebrows that appear to be under the spell of a snake charmer.

We all should be thankful—save, perhaps, those who voted her  Esquire ’s Sexiest Woman Alive last year—that Clarke turned down starring in “Fifty Shades of Grey” (too much nudity) and waited for this opportunity. To be fair, there of echoes of many other more edifying sources—“An Affair to Remember,” “ Pretty Woman ,” the French import “ The Intouchables ”—that reverberate through this “ Beauty and the Beast ” fantasy as it unfolds in a quaint English village. That the struggling working-class town’s picturesque views are dominated by a massive castle further enhance the sense that this is a contemporary fairy tale.

Ensconced in said fortress in his own stylish yet sterile bachelor pad cocoon is 30-ish Will Traynor, who once was a dashing financial whiz, devotee of extreme sports and bon vivant lover of ravishing women before he was left a quadriplegic two years earlier after a traffic accident. As played by Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair in “ The Hunger Games ” franchise), Will is initially toxic, filled with resentfulness and bitterness over losing his once-wonderful life. He also struggles with chronic pain and finds little joy in existing anymore. That begins to slowly—very slowly—change once lovely Lou enters his world, after being hired by his concerned mother ( Janet McTeer of “ Albert Nobbs ,” adding what layers she can to an underdone part) and father (played by a Charles Dance , a few degrees warmer than usual).

Lou is supposedly a caretaker, although she soon discovers that there is an affable male nurse about to handle the more medical-related and personal hygiene concerns. Instead, she is intended to be a ray of sunshine to dispel the storm clouds that lend to their son’s sagging spirits and boost his desire to live. With a considerable arsenal of withering sarcastic retorts at his surly disposal, Will puts up quite a defense. But one rainy day, he decides to watch a French DVD—“ Of Gods and Men ,” about Trappist monks living in war-torn Algeria—and the ice between him and Lou begins to melt after he learns she has never seen a subtitled movie before.

There are some roadblocks that aren’t as easy to overcome—such as Lou’s clearly incompatible long-distance-runner beau and the fact that Will learns his pre-accident girlfriend is engaged to marry one of his best friends. Then a rather dire agenda of Will’s is revealed, one that will not be exposed here though it is unfortunately treated with all the ham-fisted tentativeness of the worst of those Nicholas Sparks adaptations. This causes Lou to double down on making Will happy by taking him to Mozart concerts, heading to the racetrack and going on a swoony trip to Mallorca. Do they fall for each other? Mais oui .

But weep porn does what weep porn must, even though—unlike my excessive waterworks during “The Fault in Our Stars”—I found no need to dip into the promo Kleenex handed out at my screening. First-time filmmaker Thea Sharrock does an able job keeping us invested in her two main characters while punching up their emotions with Ed Sheeran and Imagine Dragons on the soundtrack and serving up some tasty supporting characters such as Brendan Coyle of “Downton Abbey” fame as Lou’s dad and Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous” acclaim as an uncensored wedding guest.

But given that the film’s catchphrase is “Live boldly!,” it’s a shame that “Me Before You” didn’t take a bolder and more honest route in its adaptation of the novel by Jojo Moyes , who also wrote the screenplay. Still, if this flick helps Clarke get ahead in the movie biz, it has done at least one thing right.  

Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.

• Charles Dance as Steven Traynor
• Sam Claflin as William "Will" Traynor
• Emilia Clarke as Louisa "Lou" Clark
• Janet McTeer as Camilla Traynor
• Vanessa Kirby as Alicia
• Craig Armstrong
• John Wilson

Writer (novel)

Cinematographer.

• Remi Adefarasin
• Thea Sharrock

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User reviews

Me Before You

Thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

• Sep 4, 2016
• Jul 2, 2016
• Jul 28, 2021

A Most Beautiful Love Story

• pattypiazza
• Sep 8, 2016

Clarke is adorable and the critics get it wrong

• whitbyscallyred
• Jun 2, 2016

Fantastic Romantic Movie

• Feb 15, 2020

Live Boldly

• ThomasDrufke
• Jun 3, 2016

Gets me crying Everytime

• anaisverny_ploypailin
• Oct 13, 2018

It was a pretty cute

• May 31, 2016
• simontytgat99
• Jun 29, 2016

I don't like sappy movies, but I really liked this sappy movie. Clarke wins again.

• dewittambassador
• Jul 1, 2016

sappy romance

• SnoopyStyle
• Nov 17, 2016

Please don't take this personally

• StrangeBirdie
• Nov 24, 2020

Claflin and Clarke where to perfect

• DarkVulcan29
• Jun 9, 2016

The Tear-Jerking "Me Before You": Reminding Ourselves of Living Boldly!

• emixam-28961
• Jun 1, 2016

The right to death with dignity?

• Movie-Scene-by-Temo
• Apr 4, 2019

A sweet love story for those who wants to get lost in the moment.

• aimee-837-243757

"You are scored on my heart Clark"

• bob-the-movie-man
• Oct 3, 2016

A sad but meaningful story!

Heavy duty content.

• Nov 29, 2024

A wonderful story

• boodt-62758

A nice little 3 hanky tear jerker with a very abominable message

An awful message in a very cheerful & lovely movie.

• basem_tawfek
• Aug 8, 2016

'You are pretty much the only thing that makes me wanna get up in the morning.'

• Sep 3, 2016

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Me Before You Reviews

Ableism as Romance makes disabled partners look like burdens and erasure look like love.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2021

The ultimate treatment of the heart of this story leaves us with a more bitter than sweet taste.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 3, 2021

Sigh. Folks. It's 2016. I mean, seriously. Aren't we past these pathetic stereotypes by now? Can't we move away from these ridiculous disability as tragedy storylines?

Full Review | Original Score: 1.0/4.0 | Sep 1, 2020

It doesn't have anything interesting to say about its themes or characters - they all exist within a generic and simplified love story.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 13, 2020

I didn't get it.

Full Review | May 1, 2020

I didn't approve of it. I think it's a bad message to be sending.

Through sheer force of charm alone, Claflin puts the audience into his moneyed and manicured corner, to wish him whatever happiness he and his chipper miss can muster.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Oct 21, 2019

The necessary dramatic 'crescendo' does not proceed naturally as it should, but in a completely automatic way, following each and every one of established clichés. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 21, 2019

Sure it looks glossy and has pretty people in it but the message is horrible.

Full Review | Original Score: D- | Apr 12, 2019

Unfortunately, a handful of quality performances isn't nearly enough to salvage Me Before You.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 19, 2019

The film unintentionally comes off more cynical than romantic. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Feb 12, 2019

While I expected too much of Me Before You, I still enjoyed it.

Full Review | Jan 10, 2019

Me Before You is one of the most refreshing romance movies to hit the big screen in a long while.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jan 9, 2019

Although a stereotypical story with type-cast characters, the subjects depict the human experience and appeal to sympathetic audiences and romantics, its simplicity giving it the ability to connect to audiences on a universal level.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 22, 2018

A film adaptation of a much loved book always comes with great expectations, and Shakespearean director Thea Sharrock did not let us down. This is an excellent maiden effort.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2018

Simply put, this is escapism at its worst. But who cares? Some tear ducts are in need of cleaning, and if it takes a possibly offensive and badly directed melodrama to do the job, then let it do it.

Full Review | May 1, 2018

Leaving aside the complex issue of assisted dying, one of the film's biggest problems is how much Me Before You shields the audience. For a supposed romance, it's surprisingly prudish.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 22, 2018

How awful ... the moment you realize that everything about their relationship -- gooey, romantic junk food that it is -- is merely the lead-up to a much grander emotional manipulation.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2018

You cannot change who people are, but you can accept them for who they are, giving and taking to do everything in your power to make both lives special while they last

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2017

It is hard to appreciate a narrative that can only skim the surface but then again Emilia and Sam's chemistry makes you buy into their cozy world.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 7, 2017

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Review: ‘Me Before You’ Is a Refreshingly Honest Tearjerker

David ehrlich.

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“ Me Before You ” is such a wonderfully uncynical movie that it almost doesn’t matter that it isn’t very good. Adapted by Jojo Moyes from her beloved 2012 novel of the same name, this industrial-strength tear-jerker has all the subtlety of being hit by a runaway motorcycle, but it’s amazing how even the most strained of love stories can be completely revitalized by a palpable human touch. This may look like a Nicolas Sparks knockoff, but the difference between “A Walk to Remember” and “Me Before You” is the difference between “2001” and “Chappie.”

Louisa Clark (“Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke , hardly recognizable without her dragons) is a spirited 26-year-old from a struggling middle-class family. Essentially a live-action Disney princess, Lou dresses as though she’s channeled all of the excitement that’s missing from her life into her eccentric wardrobe, and she wears her emotions so broadly on her face that she might as well be a human emoji. Alas, this bubbly creature is a bit down in the dumps — the bakery where she works has been forced to lay her off, and Lou is growing convinced that her potential is as dim as her job prospects. She’s lost sight of what the world has to offer her, and what she might have to offer the world in return.

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Desperate for work, Lou interviews to be a caregiver for Will Traynor, the newly quadriplegic hunk who lives with his family in the massive castle at the center of town. Showing up to the audition in an ’80s-era power-suit that splits down the thigh as soon as she meets Will’s severe mother (Janet McTeer), Lou couldn’t be more clearly unqualified to care for another human being. She’s hired on the spot.

READ MORE: “Me Before You” Director Thea Sharrock Discusses Bringing the Book to the Screen

As per the grand tradition of thinly veiled “Beauty and the Beast” knockoffs, Will is a miserable ass until the new woman in his life finds a way to pierce his icy veneer. Embodied with terrific pompousness by “Hunger Games” star Sam Claflin , the actor uses his high cheekbones and peevish eyes to convey everything about the man Will was before the runaway motorcycle accident that crippled him (Claflin reportedly lost a bunch of weight for the role, but even bound to his motorized wheelchair it’s clear that he’s still a strapping physical specimen).

She’s poor and provincial, but she has the world at her feet. He’s rich and experienced, but has no feeling in his legs. Lou and Will inevitably fall in love and begin to see life anew through the joy they give one another, but there’s one snag that keeps the romance anchored to the ground: Will wants to kill himself.

Directed with rare intimacy by theater veteran Thea Sharrock (she oversaw the recent revival of “Equus,” fronted by Daniel Radcliffe), “Me Before You” bends some of its genre’s most tiresome tropes into a love story that hits with the blunt impact of a broken heart. This is a glossy melodrama fit for the multiplexes (Remi Adefarasin’s sparkling cinematography allows the movie to double as a feature-length ad for Wales), but it hits a nerve because Moyes’ story never betrays its characters or what they want from the world, and because the sweetness of its candied telling doesn’t overwhelm the  truths at its core.

Clichés abound: Of course Lou has a boyfriend (Matthew Lewis, who seems to have been injected by the Captain America serum since his days as Neville Longbottom), and of course he’s such a complete dolt that no one will judge Lou for ditching him at the end of the second act. In fact, for a film about such an unfortunate predicament, much of the messiness is swept under the rug.

Lou never has to confront the ugly physical realities of caring for a severely impaired person, as Will has a kind aide (Aussie actor Stephen Peacoke) who takes care of all the dirty work. As narratively convenient as that may be, it’s also a reasonable setup for a super-rich man who needs round-the-clock assistance. Moyes and Sharrock, however, have no such excuse when it comes to why their film elides so many of its most traumatic moments.

“Me Before You” isn’t “Amour,” nor does it have to be, but the blunt emotional honesty of its story is only sustained by circumventing so many of the tragic details that might have galvanized Will’s dire situation. “Me Before You” wants you to cry, but it doesn’t want you to suffer. It’s a difficult needle to thread — to quote the Ed Sheeran song that inevitably plays over the climactic moments: “Loving can hurt. Loving can hurt sometimes” — and one that the film negotiates by coating its unflinchingly frank melodrama with a thick layer of Hollywood shine.

But the human element shines through, thanks in large part to Sharrock’s flair for intimacy — most of the movie is set in the excited air between Clark and Claflin’s faces — and the sincerity of her film’s supporting characters, the boyfriend notwithstanding. In most versions of this story, Will’s parents would be borderline monsters who felt as though their son had failed them, and the fact that his father is played by Charles Dance (whose characters typically range from “evil” to “the most evil”) braces you to assume the worst. But while the Traynors have their understandable share of disappointments, their love for Will is every bit as palpable as their diminished hopes for his future.

It also helps that Lou thaws into less of a cartoon as “Me Before You” begins to flip the script on most popcorn melodramas — here, the manic pixie dream girl is the one who’s lost the swing in her step, and the man she’s been sent to fix is literally broken beyond repair. “I can make you happy,” Lou pleads to Will, but she may not be able to make him whole. This is a Movie with a capital “M,” but it’s the rare romance that becomes more beautiful by virtue of how it recognizes that even true love has its limits.

“Me Before You” is now playing in theaters.

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‘me before you’: film review.

Cinderella story meets end-of-life dialectic in a romance starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin and based on Jojo Moyes' popular novel.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

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A bubbly, broody love triangle in which death is the third party, Me Before You stars Game of Thrones ’ Emilia Clarke as the caregiver of a quadriplegic, portrayed by  The Hunger Games’  Sam Claflin . Brought together by need — hers for a job, his for a friend — they’re chalk and cheese, and therefore, by the rules of the movie-romance game, meant for each other. There’s no question that Jojo Moyes’ adaptation of her popular novel, directed by Thea Sharrock , has more on its mind than such storytelling conventions. But far too much of this high-gloss tearjerker proceeds as a by-the-numbers romantic fantasy, nudging the viewer every step of the way.

The chemistry between the leads and a few finely etched supporting turns provide welcome counterweight to the movie’s formulaic progression, welcome especially for those who have seen their fair share of entries in the love-story-with-medical-complication subgenre . Those who haven’t — teens and young adults — will most appreciate the feature, but all-ages fans of the book and of cryfests like The Fault in Our Stars (whose screenwriters had at one point been tapped for the adaptation) will be eagerly getting out their handkerchiefs.

Release date: Jun 03, 2016

At the big-screen helm for the first time, stage wunderkind Sharrock takes a straightforward approach, relying on such familiar tools of the trade as the pop-song-backed montage and ping-pong cross-cutting in conversations. She reserves the film’s visual flourishes for its design elements and settings, and the drama opens with one of its most striking images: two lovers in a bed so white and fluffy it might be a cloud, or a romance novel cover. Dashing go-getter Will Traynor ( Claflin ), waking in his London dream pad beside his girlfriend (Vanessa Kirby), is starting another glamorous day.

The opening section sets up the yin-yang between thirtysomething Will and 26-year-old Louisa “Lou” Clark (Clarke) with admirable economy. In contrast to his moneyed joie de vivre , she still lives in the cramped home of her parents (Brendan Coyle and Samantha Spiro ) and, like many women in screen romances, has a boyfriend (Matthew Lewis) who’s cartoonishly wrong for her. Lou’s explosively colorful girlie getups announce her quirky vivacity — costume designer Jill Taylor has a field day with fuzzy sweaters and polka-dot shoes — but any ambitions attached to that creativity have fizzled.

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When Lou and Will meet, he’s almost completely paralyzed, two years after an accident cut short his seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory. That Will’s stoically suffering mother (Janet McTeer , powerfully understated) hires the inexperienced Lou in the first place is a testament to either the woman’s desperation or her ability to see beyond a nicely played wardrobe malfunction to Lou’s compassion and resilience. With a physical therapist (Stephen Peacocke ) tending to Will’s hygiene, Lou is expected to occupy a different realm of intimacy, as a hired friend of sorts. “You can work out your level of interaction,” his mother tells her. But the movie doesn’t quite allow such leeway for the viewer, instead underlining every exchange and reaction.

In the castle that rises above Lou’s village and is Will’s family home, she becomes an Eliza Doolittle to his princely Henry Higgins. He encourages her to widen her horizons; first step: watching movies with subtitles. The self-actualization goes two ways, with Lou gradually, predictably drawing Will out of the fortress — literal and figurative — where he’s been biding his wheelchair-bound time in sullen despair. Alarmed by the jagged scar on his arm from a botched attempt at self-destruction, Lou determines to make him fall in love with life again and cancel his pending date with assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Cue the string of storybook excursions, both local and far-flung, each one higher on the aphrodisiac meter until the ultimate island getaway ( Mallorca plays Mauritius). With their charm and good looks, Clarke and Claflin give the duo’s sublimated sensuality an undeniable charge, enhanced by the honeyed light of Remi Adefarasin’s camerawork . Clark overdoes Lou’s exuberance, though; whatever emotional complexity and uncertainties the character had on the page get lost amid the performance’s insistent effervescence. And however superbly delivered, Lou’s rant about unhappy marriages indicates a level of understanding that’s at odds with her supposed lack of introspection.

Within the extreme physical constraints of his role, Claflin works a subtler palette, giving Will’s mourning for his former self an affecting depth beyond the screenplay’s all too obvious signposts. Both leads embody the class divide that their characters have crossed, with Andrew McAlpine’s polished production design accentuating the difference between the spirited bustle of Lou’s home life and the quiet anguish of the Traynors’ well-appointed rooms.

The pointedness of the dialogue and direction can, when it isn’t detracting from the story, serve the pared-down supporting roles well, heightening smartly restrained performances that convey whole backstories . That’s the case when Lou’s crucifix-wearing mother reacts to the idea of euthanasia, when her father buoys her with encouraging words and especially in the potent silences between Will’s coexisting parents, played to perfection by McTeer and Charles Dance. A cameo by Joanna Lumley , as a stranger spouting agreeably tart words of wisdom, is entirely unnecessary. But it’s nonetheless a gratifying jolt of Lumley-ness as this villainless fairy tale draws toward its happily mawkish ever after.

Cannes: THR Critics Debate "Rape Comedy," Overlong Movies and Award-Worthy Women

Distributors: Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production companies: New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present a Sunswept Entertainment production Cast: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin , Janet McTeer , Charles Dance, Brendan Coyle, Stephen Peacocke , Matthew Lewis, Jenna Coleman, Samantha Spiro , Vanessa Kirby, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Joanna Lumley Director: Thea Sharrock Screenwriter: Jojo Moyes , based on her novel Producers: Karen Rosenfelt , Alison Owen Executive producers: Sue Baden-Powell Director of photography: Remi Adefarasin Production designer: Andrew McAlpine Costume designer: Jill Taylor Editor: John Wilson Composer: Craig Armstrong Casting: Kate Dowd

Rated PG-13, 110 minutes

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Review: In ‘Me Before You,’ a Broken Man Meets a Free Spirit

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By A.O. Scott

• June 2, 2016

A recent screening of “Me Before You” concluded with audible sniffles and even a sob or two. Why not gales of laughter or quiet snores? These are the mysteries that trouble a critic’s uneasy mind. This floppy British romance, directed by Thea Sharrock and adapted by Jojo Moyes from her best-selling novel , sits at the point where tedium, ridiculousness and heartfelt sentiment converge, separated by an all-but-imperceptible distance. You can’t really argue with someone else’s tears. You can, however, find yourself mystified by them.

Which is not to say that there is anything especially hard to figure out about this movie. On the contrary: It makes a virtue of its absolute obviousness. The first time we see Louisa Clark — known as Lou and played by Emilia Clarke — we note her brightly colored tights and surmise that she is a quirky free spirit. And she is! In contrast, Will Traynor ( Sam Claflin ), is imperious and sarcastic, both because he is an aristocrat (in an actual castle) and because an accident has left him mostly paralyzed from the neck down.

Lou, having been laid off from a job dispensing bogus nutritional advice to old ladies at a tea shop, is hired by Will’s mother ( Janet McTeer ) to care for him. “Not the physical stuff,” Lou is assured. Those duties are taken care of by an affable Australian (Stephen Peacocke). Lou’s assignment is to be cheery and pleasant. To keep Will company and interrupt his brooding with chipper chattiness. To annoy him until he falls in love with her.

Movie Review: ‘Me Before You’

The times critic a. o. scott reviews “me before you.”.

His part of the bargain is to soften in her presence and to introduce her to sophisticated pleasures like Mozart and movies with subtitles. Lou already has a boyfriend, a self-centered fitness nut named Patrick (Matthew Lewis), but as soon as you see him, you will know better than to expect a werewolf-versus-vampire rivalry for a young woman’s affections. This is not “ Twilight. ”

But “Me Before You” does live in the same “Twilight”-fan-fiction neighborhood as “ Fifty Shades of Grey ,” though without the spanking or the atrocious dialogue. (Not that the dialogue here is any good. It’s just not especially memorable, one way or the other.) The operative fantasy is of an ingénue who seduces, and is seduced by, a man who is rich, powerful and also helpless, in need of rescuing by the heroine even as she finds herself in his thrall.

The ending of this movie, though, which I suppose I’m honor-bound not to spoil, is another matter altogether. It will be described in some quarters as tragic, but this doesn’t seem quite right. For one thing, there has not been enough genuine dramatic conflict to give sad events the full, cathartic weight of tragedy. For another, the conclusion might not really be sad at all. Lou gets a lot of money and a fresh croissant. So maybe I had it all wrong, and those tears were tears of joy.

“Me Before You” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Discreet discussions of death and sex . Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes.

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Me Before You

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

In movie weepies, from last century’s Love Story to the millennial likes of The Fault in Our Stars and anything by Nicholas Sparks, death is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Just get a load of Me Before You. I watched the film version of Jojo Moyes’ 2012 bestseller surrounded by women who laughed through their tears and vice versa. The few dudes in attendance sat stoically, resigned to their fate or maybe holding back their feelings. Surprise: Me Before You isn’t an unduly painful endurance test.

For that, thank the two captivating actors cast as the doomed lovers. Emilia Clarke is best known as the blond, dragon-taming Khaleesi on Game of Thrones. But here she plays brunette, plain-Jane Louisa “Lou” Clark, from a rowdy, working-class British family. Lou becomes the caretaker for blue-blood quadriplegic Will Traynor, played with winning charm by Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games franchise. Will is an impossibly handsome London financier who was paralyzed two years ago when a motorcycle accident ended a lifestyle that would have qualified him for the best season ever of The Bachelor. His wealthy family owns the British castle right over the hill from Lou’s humble abode.

Chatty, dimpled Lou, whose wardrobe of Minnie Mouse stripes and polka dots would send fashionistas into a shock coma, is improbably hired by Will’s mum (Janet McTeer, restrained and remarkable) to distract her son from offing himself at an assisted-suicide clinic in Switzerland. Not since Julia Roberts tried to smile Campbell Scott back to life in 1991’s dismal Dying Young has an actress had to grin like a maniacal cartoon character in the face of the Grim Reaper. Yet, Clarke pulls it off, exuding natural warmth and humor in a part constructed from artificial sweeteners.

OK, she could have twinkled less. But the actress is genuinely endearing, as is the admirably dry-eyed and acid-tongued Claflin. He teaches Lou about Mozart and subtitled movies and admits to a weakness for Michael Bay’s Armageddon (he lost me there). Will thinks Lou’s clothes are ridiculous but falls — as he must — for the real her. A few moments allow both actors to register strongly. I’m thinking of a scene in which Will whirls Lou around a dance floor in his wheelchair. Peering at her neckline, he says, “you wouldn’t let me near those breasts if I wasn’t in this chair.” The two share a few PG-13 kisses as Lou tries to show Will the possibilities in  choosing life. But the movie keeps averting its eyes when things get uncomfortable about the tangle of sex and frustration. Like the book by Moyes, who wrote the script, the film glosses over suffering with beauty. The messier duties of caring for Will are handled by male nurse Nathan (Stephen Peacocke), also a looker. Everyone is gorgeous and impossible not to love.

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If I seem taken aback by what is really no more than typical Hollywood twaddle, it’s because Me Before You is the feature film debut of Thea Sharrock, a leading light in the British theater and the last person you’d expect to go mucking around in paint-by-numbers tearjerking. A leading U.S. Disability Organization has criticized the film for implying that the millions of people with significant disabilities currently leading fulfilling, rich lives might be better off committing suicide. I don’t think Me Before You does that. But it also doesn’t grapple  deeply enough with the core questions it raises, settling for telling a sob story that will go down easy at the box office. Still, you can’t blame audiences too much for being seduced by two shining young stars in a movie romance that hits the spot, bitter and sweet.

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