Cert 12A
110 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate sex references, suicide references
The signs were not good. I am not a great fan of romantic comedies and even Miss W who loves a chick flick gave Thea Sharrack's Me Before You the thumbs down,
Nevertheless, I had to see for myself, so stopped off at Hinckley's new Cineworld on the way back from a London trip to visit a pal.
And much to my daughter's surprise (and dare I say disdain) I rather enjoyed myself, laughing five times and even brushing away a tear.
I suspect it was because I viewed Me Before You from completely different angle from Miss W, namely that of a parent.
Our children are a similar age to the central characters - Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) and Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) - so that might be one of the reasons.
Another was that I was bowled over by the optimism of Louisa and the zest that Clarke put into the role. As a fashion-phobe I hate to admit it but I was even taken with her different eccentric garb in almost every scene.
The storyline of Me Before You is simple - successful young businessman is now a resentful paraplegic after being struck down by a motorbike.
His anger is taken out on all of those around him and is to blame for a catalogue of carers fleeing from the mansion in which he lives with his parents (Charles Dance and Janet McTeer).
Then the wide-eyed Louisa turns up and initially sticks with him because she is desperate for money and gradually becomes attached.
Their bond grows as the film progresses but while Will knows there will be no happy ending, Louisa clings to a hope of turning around the impossible,
Detractors would say that Me Before You lays the cheese on a bit thick at times and Louisa is just too good to be true but sometimes even cynics like me need to a ray of light and Emilia Clarke and her crazy, clothes, flashing smile and dancing eyebrows provided it.
Oh, and Me Before You has a really good soundtrack, boasting contributions from the likes of Cloves (I love that song), Ed Sheeran and Max Jury.
Reasons to watch: Emilia Clarke would bowl anybody over
Reasons to avoid: a bit too schmaltzy at times
Laughs: Five
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7.5/10
Star tweet
Jojo Moyes I cried at several scenes! Once so badly that they took pictures of me. #askjojoandemilia
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