The EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING movie is not short on adorable-ness and shows off the wonderful talent of the two main stars.
Nicola Yoon’s novel, Everything Everything was a huge success when it was released in 2015. It’s the story of a girl named Maddy, who suffers from a disease that keeps her from ever leaving her house. Growing up used to being indoors with the company of only her mother and nurse, Carla, Maddy is content. That is, until Olly moves next door. Suddenly, she wants more from life than just walls and fear.
The movie follows this same storyline, with Amandla Stenberg (previously Rue in The Hunger Games) starring as Maddy and Nick Robinson (Ben Parish in The 5th Wave) as Olly. The two establish an awkwardly adorable relationship, new and sincere. They embody the well-known teen idea that life must be lived in the present day and love is worth risking everything– even life, itself.
Maddy and Olly might not have had the steamiest of chemistry, but that’s not what they were going for. They embodied new, awkward, young love. After all, he is literally the first boy she’s ever met. And they were adorable! Maddy grew from a little girl who always obeyed her mother into a young woman ready to risk it all for a chance at independence.
As a big fan of the book, I was pleased to see the film followed a very similar path and left me with very similar emotions. I loved seeing Maddy’s quirky imagination come to life on the screen, though some scenes in which Maddy imagines her texts with Olly being real could have been shortened. While my very favorite part of the book might have been excluded (those “if found” notes made that book for me!), the fear, excitement, surprise, worry, and love were all present.
Were there some changes? Of course! We got to meet Carla’s daughter, who was discussed but not seen in the book. There is another moment that is misinterpreted in the book, but just imagined in the film. And, of course, the book lists were missed. But the tale of a girl who met a boy and decided to put it all on the line is clear, heart-wrenching, and touching.
Check out Everything Everything, based on the novel by Nicola Yoon, in theaters on May 21.