All My Life (2020)

Directed by: Marc Meyers | 131 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Jessica Rothe, Harry Shum Jr., Marielle Scott, Chrissie Fit, Jay Pharoah, Kyle Allen, Jon Rudnitsky, Ever Carradine, Keala Settle, Molly Hagan, Josh Brener, Anjali Bhimani, Dan Butler, Mario Cantone

Why do some romantic movies work better than others? The secret probably lies in the chemistry between the protagonists. The average romantic film is made up of clichés and largely follows a familiar path: boy bumps into girl and falls in love, love is not immediately reciprocated (or not immediately with conviction), but boy manages to overcome obstacles and at the end from the ride, the two hug each other and live happily ever after. Or a variant of this. Those well-trodden paths beg for an original approach, in order to come out a bit original. Why do the romances in, for example, ‘Brief Encounter’ (1945), ‘Love Story’ (1970), ‘Pretty Woman’ (1990) and ‘The Notebook’ (2003) fall off the screen and other films with similar storylines do not work at all? Because the main characters are attracted to each other like magnets! Sometimes a romance also arises outside the picture; just think of the famous love couple Bogart & Bacall, where the attraction in all the films they made together is not to be missed. A powerful chemistry between the protagonists, which more or less forces you to get caught up in the love story, can make an average film rise above average.

The chemistry between the protagonists is also the most convincing aspect in ‘All My Life’ (2020) by director Marc Meyers. This true story is full of clichés, but still manages to touch us thanks to the love couple that Jessica Rothe (‘Happy Death Day’, 2017) and Harry Shum Jr. (‘Glee’, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, 2018) here. ‘On average, a person lives 27,375 days. If we’re lucky,” Rothe played Jenn informs us in the introductory voiceover, before emphasizing that we have to make the days we have worthwhile because you don’t know how much time you’ve been given. It is immediately clear that we are dealing here with a specific subgenre within romantic drama films, namely those in which one of the two lovers is unlikely to make it to the end of the film. And indeed; After watching the first half hour of how Jenn and Sol (Shum Jr.) met, fell in love, decided to move in together and got engaged, Sol is told he has advanced liver cancer . Getting such a strong message at the height of the romance hits like a bomb. The pair had planned a romantic wedding in the summer, but that can’t go on now. Not only because Sol may not be there by then, but also because all the money they saved for their dream wedding is now spent on hospital treatment and medicine. Their friends feel so sorry for the couple that they decide to set up a crowdfunding campaign, with the aim of raising enough money to get that wedding after all – and fast! – to keep going and still seal the love between Jenn and Sol before it’s too late.

‘All My Life’ has a hopeful tone; the real Solomon Chau was not the type to sit down and try to make every day something beautiful. That is what the film exudes. Many romantic movies are sugary and gooey, and you would expect ‘All My Life’ to be a suit from the same sheet. But thanks to the putative humor that Rosenberg has incorporated into the screenplay, the tone is refreshingly down-to-earth. Humor that may pleasantly surprise skeptics of this genre. In addition, there is sufficient balance between the heavier scenes in the hospital and the lighter, such as the preparations for the wedding. It’s a shame that the film is so full of quasi-philosophical wisdom like ‘It’s better to regret the things you’ve done than the things you haven’t done’ and that the story during the first hour (despite that tidings of doom after thirty minutes) ripples along so imperturbably that you sometimes have to pinch yourself to keep up. Then it’s a good thing Jessica Rothe and Harry Shum make such a nice couple. These are people who wish you the best in the world. You keep looking for them. That also makes it so difficult to rhyme that the urgency that ‘All My Life’ tries so desperately to convey (‘people, make something of your life, because it will be over before you know it!’) appears only very slowly from what we are presented with. That one scream of frustration seems to have been incorporated into the film purely for form, but it doesn’t pull us into the misery this couple is going through. We don’t feel it.

‘All My Life’ therefore lingers in a rippling melodrama with two good leads and fine humor that puts it into perspective, which unfortunately lacks the urgency and emotion. Sure, there are moments that make some viewers reach for the handkerchiefs. But that is mainly due to Rothe and Shum who play their roles convincingly. But a true love tragedy like Jenn and Sol’s should grab us by the throat and never let go, but in reality we’d better be careful not to be rocked to sleep, especially in the first hour!