‘Five Feet Apart’ follows tropes, is forgettable

‘Five Feet Apart’ follows tropes, is forgettable

“Five Feet Apart” is a romantic drama made for young adults. What makes this movie different than other romance movies is both of the protagonists are sick, but wait—we’ve seen movies like these before.

The film revolves around the characters of Stella and Will played by Halley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse, respectively. They fall in love and are burdened by the curse of their disease, cystic fibrosis.

Touch is a big theme in the film since both have cystic fibrosis and their disease keeps them from touching each other. In fact, they, like all cystic fibrosis patients, have to stay six feet apart from one another.

“Five Feet Apart” follows the trend of a lot of young adult romance movies. It sets up the protagonist in a Romeo and Juliet setting of forbidden love. Not saying the story doesn’t pack a punch, but from the beginning of the movie, you kind of know what to expect by the end.

If you’re a fan of these types of movies with a recycled plot then this movie is what you’re looking for.

Ultimately, the movie was enjoyable. It’s not a must watch, but it’s also not something to avoid.

Sprouse and Richardson’s characters were fairly bland and identified by their disease more than by their personalities. You could see a glimmer of an actual personality as they were being introduced, but halfway through the film they revert to generalized love birds who happen to have cystic fibrosis. One might argue that this was done on purpose if it wasn’t for Moises Arias’ character, Poe.

Arias’ performance stole the show every time he was on screen. Poe also suffered from cystic fibrosis but wasn’t identified by the disease, instead by his fun, rebellious spirit.

A case can be made for a spin-off, but it’ll be up to how this film does in the box-office.