I have read the book and enjoyed it, plus this film, unlike some other recent adaptations, didn't piss me off, fortunately. Here's looking at you Girl on the Train. But that's another story for another day that probably won't happen.
Maddy (Amandla Stenberg) suffers from SCID, basically her immune system is so fragile, a simple bacteria infection can kill her. Thus, she has spent all, save a few months as an infant, stuck inside. Sure, her house is fairly nice and her mother (Anika Noni Rose) has done her best to make it a palace for her princess, and Maddy has more or less accepted her fate. She reads a lot and writes spoiler reviews, albeit shorter than mine, online. She is taking an architecture class online and designs interiors of buildings. Sure, she wonders what the outside world would be like, but she has no desire to risk her life until a boy moves in next door.
That is what happens in plenty of young adult novels, a sweet, sensitive and perfect boy moves in next door, forcing the heroine to expand her horizons. That doesn't make it any less effective, part of me just wishes Maddy had the courage to go outside before meeting Olly (Nick Robinson).
There is some clever film-making in the first half of the film, truly getting into Maddy's head. Some of the conversations that she has with Olly occur, not just in text message but in face to face meetings in the fictional diner Maddy created.
Of course Maddy is drawn to him. He shows a genuine interest in her, and he's the only boy she's ever spoken to. She interacts with her mother, her nurse (Ana de la Reguara) and the nurse's daughter, Rosa (Danube Hermosillo) and that's it. Fortunately, her mother is also a doctor so Maddy doesn't even need to leave the house for that. And Olly has issues of his own. His father has a nasty temper and can't hold a job that well because of it. The father drinks too much and beats his wife and children occasionally. The book gave him more life than the film, though both are Maddy's show.
Finally, her nurse, Carla, gives in and lets Olly visit and once Maddy has tasted something new, she wants more, even sneaking in Olly through the anti-septic room when both her mother is working and Carla has the night off. They have their kiss, which makes every other first kiss seem lame by comparison, mine included.
Things take a turn for the worse when Maddy witnesses a physical fight between Olly and his father and she burst outside without thinking. Olly urges her to go back inside and her mother ushers her in instantly. Carla gets fired and Maddy gets sick and punished. What little freedom Maddy had, using the internet, is taken.
At her mother's urging, she encourages Olly to find someone else, someone who is normal, who can go outside and do things. But Olly doesn't want to forget her. And then Maddy decides that her sheltered life isn't worth living anymore so she buys two tickets to Hawaii and gets Olly to take her there.
They have the time of their lives, and Maddy loves the ocean, just like she always thought she would and then, she does actually get very sick. She is in the hospital but wakes up in her own bed, with an IV attached. She gets better and tries to completely severe ties with Olly, but he's in her head. And then he moves, his mother finally got the courage to leave her husband, they do so in the dead of night whilst he's out drinking but she finally does it.
Just when you think Maddy's life is back to her boring normal, she gets a call from the doctor from Hawaii, who informs her that she doesn't have SCID so Maddy immediately goes to her mother's room of records, which confirms her worst fear: her mother lied to her her whole life. That's right, Maddy isn't really sick to that point. Her immune system is weak, and fragile, but she won't die from a simple infection. Livid, she runs away, and eventually she calls Carla, which is her new place of residence.
Of course, her mother had a good reason for doing it. When Maddy was a mere baby, her father and older brother died in a car accident and then baby Maddy got very sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, figuring that it was probably an allergy, unable to lose anyone else, her mother decided to lie, saying that Maddy had this debilitating disease when in reality, she wasn't that sick. Naturally, Maddy can't forgive her mother, at least not anytime soon.
And she and Olly reconnect. She flies to New York and meets him again in a book store. Hopefully, things will work out for them.
While the film is syrupy young adult garbage, it is still mostly an excellent film, with some creative techniques used, including one scene where Olly's and Maddy's innermost thoughts appear on a the screen like subtitles, which probably should have done more often. There are a few minor problems and inconsistencies. First of all, how is Olly able to rent a car once they appear in Hawaii, he isn't twenty-five yet and how is his allowed in her hospital room, or is that just an allusion? Then there's my nitpick, in one scene Olly's too long hair is arranged differently, when it shouldn't have been. Oh well, minor problems. And I wished they had shown the medical records on screen instead of just having Maddy sift through them herself. But the choose to have Maddy wear primarily white is excellent, representing not just purity but also sterility. Olly, on the other hand wears mostly black.
Though there are few roles in this film, the film hinges on them and Stenberg and Robinson deliver, plus they also have excellent chemistry. If they didn't, this film would fail. And while the film has that typical, tried and true premise of falling in love with the boy next door and while Olly appears to be too good to be true, as in many young adult novels, I wish we all had an Olly, I certainly haven't found mine yet, I'm glad he moved in next to Maddy, she needed something to spice up her life, something that caused her to find out the truth about her health and if he had never moved in next door, it would have never set into motion the chain of events that led the truth to come out. And the truth needed to come out. All-in-all, this is one of the best novel to film adaptations I've seen, and that is not something you can take for granted.
Despite the apparent cheesiness of it all, the film is a wonder and does force you to think. Would you like to live a long life by merely observing it or live a shorter life while actually experiencing everything it had to offer. Also, Moonstruck is essential romantic comedy viewing for all. Grade: B+
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