five feet apart christian movie review

Five Feet Apart

Reviewed by: Ruth Eshuis CONTRIBUTOR

Difficulties and fears of individuals and families struggling with Cystic Fibrosis—a lethal genetic disorder that affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive juices and causes severe progressive damage to the lungs, pancreas, liver, kidneys, intestines, etc.

Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer

What about the issue of suffering? Doesn’t this prove that there is no God and that we are on our own? Answer

Did God make the world the way it is now? What kind of world would you create? Answer

Does God feel our pain? Answer

ORIGIN OF BAD —Why are there bad things in our world? Answer

TRUE LOVE —What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer

For a follower of Christ, what is LOVE —a feeling, an emotion, or an action? Answer

GAY —What’s wrong with being Gay? Answer

What about Gays needs to change? Answer — It may not be what you think.

“Can you love someone you can never touch?”

a beautiful but sad story of an unwell teen’s longing to touch those she loves

S tella ( Haley Lu Richardson ) has been managing her Cystic Fibrosis for many years along with her family and best friend Poe ( Moises Arias ). Though she clings to the hope of a lung transplant and puts on a brave smile for her friends and her on-line video diary, she’s deeply struggling and starting to unravel.

Will ( Cole Sprouse ), on the other hand, wears a defeatist attitude about his CF and life. He expresses this through sarcastic remarks, dark sketches and noncooperation with his medication regimes. His risk-taking drives Stella to distress.

What is LOVE , for a follower of Christ? Answer

Put these two together, with a spark of new attraction and the torturous fact that they can never touch one another without jeopardizing the other’s life, and it makes for an interesting perspective on teen attraction and sacrificial love .

Can they survive their strict requirement of “Six feet apart at all times”? Can they survive at all?

Moviemaking Quality

“Five Feet Apart” is a well-made film which I’m told takes its dialog word-for-word from the novel. I appreciated its realistic depiction of medical routines and unwell bodies (largely thanks to clever make-up), brilliant and sensitive acting, and overall artistic quality. Unrealistic aspects are few and far between.

Spiritual and Moral Issues

Given that Stella and Will are facing such short lives and potentially difficult deaths, it is not surprising that time is spent dwelling on whatever hope they may have, and how they can regain any kind of control. Though they embrace art, meditation, friendships and various therapies to attempt care for their minds, bodies and souls, they neglect to turn to their Maker who knows their deepest needs and can give comfort that even death can’t steal. Though Stella reads a book about Life, Death and Immortality , she seems to not pursue the One who is immortal and offers eternal life and freedom from Earth’s evils .

About despair , fear and hope

Instead, the most striking theme of the film is the idea that human touch—particularly from a partner—is essential for human coping. This reminded me of how Jesus, too, went out of His way to kindly touch many of the people He helped, especially those deprived of the touch of their loved ones due to their disease .

Unfortunately, however, the assumption of this story is that the kind of touch teens need includes sex with their partner. A lot of screen time is given to CF sufferers longing to ‘be normal’ and to touch one another the way they want to. This is an understandable struggle for them, but also a worldly perspective, as sex is designed by God to only occur within the safe commitment of a marriage relationship.

PURITY —Should I save sex for marriage? Answer

Is formalized marriage becoming obsolete? What does the Bible say about marriage? Answer

How can I deal with TEMPTATIONS? Answer

How far is TOO FAR? What are the guidelines for dating relationships? Answer

About marriage in the Bible

About ANGER in the Bible

The other moral issues highlighted are when and how it is okay to touch others, the importance of boundaries and personal consent and the impact that our choices have on those around us.

Given the intense subjects of the film, intense forms of self-expression are not surprising. Characters yell, cry, swear, demand, lash out and blame. Someone sketches negative and angry images, including a grim reaper to signify impending death .

Apart from this there are no direct references to God , angels or the occult—apart from swearing. There is about as much swearing as is common among teenagers who are experiencing difficulties.

Positive Messages

“Five Feet Apart” sheds light on what occurs behind closed hospital doors for young people who face serious illnesses such as Cystic Fibrosis. It contains many beautiful and thought-provoking moments which contain valuable lessons for viewers. It cherishes life and hope .

It upholds the importance of not facing life alone. And it will encourage teen and young-adult viewers to imagine entering exclusive relationships which can grow and develop strength even without touch and sexual contact.

Characters discuss the value of life, someone’s conviction that there must be something more beyond death, and that, “To understand life you have to look at death.” It is said, “Maybe death is just the next life an inch away.”

As Christians , we know how true this is, because once we’re saved by Jesus advocating for us to God, Heaven is our spiritual home to return to following physical death. We have an inheritance that nothing can steal: not even death. So death has lost its sting.

Despite lacking the above hope, many of the heroes do great things and teach each other good character. In relationships, they grow in terms of using forgiveness, courage and selflessness to overcome fears and difficult realities. This matches the kind of love taught by Jesus and His apostles , rather than a merely romantic form of love.

Content of Concern

There is a preoccupation with sex, that’s for sure. This does not involve the usual combination of flashy cleavage, dirty dancing, suggestive comments, muscle flexing and sex scenes, but it is nevertheless frequently referenced and will stick in viewers’ minds for days, if not weeks. Over 20 comments or images include sexuality.

There is a scene of a woman standing at the bathroom mirror in her bra while washing. There is one pool scene where characters strip to their underwear, and the camera lingers long on each area of the front of their bodies. Among all these sexual references there is no mention of marriage being a consideration, except perhaps in the case of a Gay friend.

Heavy topics are dealt with, such as sibling death, survivors’ guilt, abandonment, doom, control issues, chronic and terminal medical conditions, loneliness in hospitals, perilous moments and severe grief.

Suicide is mentioned, and a little dread is built regarding this. Frustration is a frequent occurrence, and the quality of acting causes viewers to share in the shocks, distress and suffering of lovable characters. “Preemie” babies are part of the story too.

There is very little violence, apart from what I’ve already mentioned, because the main characters are not able to touch one another. The most violent moment occurs when someone trashes their own room due to the agony and anger of grief.

At times some sinful and dangerous behaviors are depicted in a way that could be perceived as promoting them, or at least certainly not condemning the wrong choices. Some messages are unhelpfully vague, such as “Touch him. Touch her.” This I could easily imagine leading teens into temptation or hasty folly.

I’ll also mention that there is plenty of coughing, mucus, vomit, choking and struggle to breathe. Medical emergencies occur.

Bad language: f-words (2), s-words (7), b*llsh*t (2), h*ll (2), d*mn (2), a**hole (2), b*tch, scr*w (2), “do it,” s*cks, b**bs, and “hoe.” God’s name is misused on at least 11 occasions.

Sexual references: • Bikini try-ons (over clothes) • “too trampy or not trampy enough” • “use protection” • sneaking into a room for sex • impolite comments about this • discussion of 3 Gay relationships • woman twice shown topless except for bra • man once shown topless • sex joke disrespectful to Catholics • character says she’s choosing a dress because it is see-through • discussion of sexiness • foreplay scene • a slow stripping off to underwear (male and female) • “screw him” • latex protection (regarding gloves)

Drugs and Alcohol: Champagne or white wine is consumed at a secret party, possibly while one or more attendees are underage. A character speaks in a slurring, drugged manner while an anesthetic is wearing off.

Taken altogether, I do not think this film is suitable for its target audience of teenage girls . Its emotional intensity and focus on sex make it sure to unsettle and confuse some. Yet it is a film with some value and that may be of interest to discerning adults—with a warning to beware of the sexual content, bad language and heavy themes.

• Vulgar/Crude language: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderately Heavy
• Nudity: Moderate
• Violence: Mild
• Occult: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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• DVD & Streaming

Five Feet Apart

• Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• March 15, 2019
• Haley Lu Richardson as Stella; Cole Sprouse as Will; Claire Forlani as Meredith; Moises Arias as Poe; Parminder Nagra as Dr. Noor Hamid; Gary Weeks as Tom; Kimberly Herbert Gregory as Nurse Barb; Emily Baldoni as Nurse; Sophia Bernard as Abby; Cynthia Evans as Erin

Home Release Date

• June 11, 2019
• Justin Baldoni

Distributor

Movie review.

“We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe.” That’s what Stella wants, more than anything in the world. Both of those things, in fact: to touch, to breathe. But both are very difficult for Stella.

Since she was a little girl, Stella has roamed the halls and visited countless rooms in St. Grace Regional Hospital. Born with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder, Stella is biding her time waiting for a lung transplant.

And like any normal teenager, she also wants to live her life—which has proven very difficult. Daily exercise, myriad medications and rigorous regimens fill Stella’s waking hours at the hospital. And if her routine wasn’t hard enough, she’s not allowed to touch other patients with cystic fibrosis if she wants to live.

It can be hard to stay positive. Which is why Stella has created her own YouTube channel, sharing the ups and downs of her disorder in an attempt to educate her viewers. But not everyone is as positive as Stella.

Will, a fellow patient at St. Grace who also has cystic fibrosis, isn’t really sold on the idea of taking his meds and following doctors’ orders. He’s of the mind that all that “junk” won’t do much but extend his suffering until he finally dies. That is, until he meets Stella.

Determined, organized and practical, Stella agrees to hang out with Will if he’ll follow the treatment schedule she plans for him. The only real requirement is that the two maintain their distance—five feet apart at all times. But what begins as an obligation turns into a deep love, one that’s fueled by hope—a hope that fights to just keep breathing.

Positive Elements

Throughout the film we see Stella, Will and another cystic fibrosis sufferer named Poe struggle to maintain positivity and hope as the disease ravages their bodies. Will, in particular, often feels that his medication and treatment are only prolonging the inevitable. But when he meets Stella, he finds a new source of strength and hope as she forces him to care for himself.

Stella begins helping Will with his daily medical regimen. She encourages him to take his medication, to do his exercises and to follow all the guidelines that have been set by his doctor. Will, in return, speaks life into Stella, affirming her beauty, intelligence and worth. He also teaches Stella how to relax and have fun. The two form an emotional bond, fall in love and learn to be vulnerable in some healthy ways.

Through the lives of Will, Stella and Poe, we learn what it means to forgive others and to accept forgiveness yourself. Stella tends to blame herself for the bad things that happen in her life; but her friends, and the medical staff around her, reassure her that there are things beyond her control that she simply isn’t responsible for.

We see the value in maintaining positivity and cherishing every moment with those we love, because no one is promised tomorrow. We also learn that human touch and intimacy are crucial to flourishing. Each of the characters learns to find hope and joy in hopeless, tragic situations as they practice loving one another well in word and deed. One girl in particular lives her life to the fullest and promises to “live big” because Stella can’t.

Spiritual Elements

Stella has a picture on her door which represents the mind, body and soul. She reads a book titled Life, Death & Immortality and tries to meditate daily.

Sexual Content

Will and Stella make it clear that they’d like to kiss and have sex. But because of their condition, they have to settle for holding hands. In one scene, Stella tells Will she’s a virgin and that she’s scared to show a man her scarred body. She takes off her dress in front of him (we see her bra and underwear) and he strips down to his boxers. After a long gaze, the two swim together.

Will lets his friends use his hospital room when he’s not there to have sex. We don’t see anything, but characters have multiple conversations and make jokes about enjoying sex, “using protection” and foreplay. Poe, Stella’s best friend, is openly gay. He talks about his sex life with multiple guys, loving his boyfriend and jokes about not liking “white boys.”

Although there is nothing sexual about the care that Stella and Will receive, we do see her scarred stomach as nurses clean her wounds. Similarly, Stella washes her hands in her bra and underwear. Stella wears a dress she deems “see through,” though only her bra straps are visible.

A group of young women discuss which type of bathing suits are “too trampy” or too modest. Another wears a cleavage-baring top. A couple is briefly shown kissing.

Violent Content

We hear that a teen girl breaks her neck and drowns while cliff diving. A young woman falls through ice and nearly drowns. A boy collapses on a hospital floor and dies. A guy performs CPR on a girl. A nurse admits to letting two cystic fibrosis patients break hospital rules, which eventually led to their death.

Will draws a sketch of a grim reaper. Will, Stella and Poe have discussions (and make jokes) about what it would be like to die from their disease.

Crude or Profane Language

God’s name is misused four times, once paired with “d–mit.” The f-word is heard twice and the s-word six times. Other profanity includes one or two uses each of “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—,” “d–mit” and “a–hole.” A guy jokingly calls a girl a “hoe.” A girl says “screw him.” A teen uses a crude hand gesture.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Teens drink champagne at a dinner party. Stella deals with the disorienting aftereffects of anesthesia following surgery.

Other Negative Elements

Will is a rulebreaker, one who has lost hope when it comes to his life and treatment. He generally doesn’t follow his daily care schedule, and he treats life with flippancy (though this changes by the end of the film).

Stella’s grieves her parents’ divorce and blames herself for the death of a close friend—all of which she unfairly attributes to her illness. She struggles with control issues, labels herself “clinically OCD” and has difficulty getting close to some people.

A guy makes a joke about using suppositories. A teen vomits and spits up mucus.

There’s a power in love and human connection. We all crave intimacy, even if we don’t know it. We desire to be known—not just for who we are on the outside, but for who we are within. As Stella says, “Life’s too short to waste a second.” So we must invest in our relationships on this earth while we have the chance.

Stella and Will fight for deep connection throughout the entire film. Often their fight is against a real, tangible fear as they strive to maintain hope while battling a disorder that promises a short life. We see the two of them, along with friends, family and medical staff, persist in difficult times, love in word and deed, and reach for joy.

But although their actions and attitudes are often altruistic and admirable, there are aspects of this film that are not. Conversations about physical intimacy (including some about same-sex relationships) turn up, as well as multiple jokes about premarital sex. Language can be harsh, especially the film’s two gratuitous f-words. We also listen in on a number of melancholy conversations about death and mortality; they’re honest discussions, to be sure, but grim nonetheless.

Five Feet Apart is both beautiful and hopeful, problematic and tragic—especially for younger viewers. Yes, there are a lot of positive themes here. But there are also elements that might have you keeping your own viewing distance.

Be sure to read our review of the book connected to this movie: Five Feet Apart .

Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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Take a breath. Take a deep breath. Those of us who have the luxury of taking breathing for granted get to choose when we think about drawing air into our lungs—to center our thoughts, to relax, to sing, to blow up a balloon, to run. For people with lung diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF), every breath is a struggle, a triumph, and a painful reminder that it may be the last. 

Just a few decades ago, the life expectancy for those born with CF was 10. So it is only recently that people like the teenagers with CF in “Five Feet Apart” lived long enough to truly understand their disease and their limitations. 

Stella (a radiant Haley Lu Richardson ) checks into the hospital for help with an infection as though it is her second home. The medical staff are all old friends, especially Barb ( Kimberly Hebert Gregory ), a compassionate nurse. Stella knows all the routines and she knows what to bring for comfort, including her stuffed panda, the laptop she uses for her vlog updates about living with CF, and the pictures from her bedroom wall.

Stella knows that her best case scenario, a lung transplant, may only work for five years, but in the CF medical relay race, the best case scenario is always just to last long enough for better treatment to be invented.

In the meantime, Stella knows that her best coping mechanisms are feeling in control of her “regimen” of care, organizing the meds cart, taking her pills with chocolate pudding, and visiting the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Her best friend Poe ( Moises Arias ) is back in the hospital, too. And so is Will ( Cole Sprouse ) another teenage CF patient, there to receive an experimental drug. While Stella is ultra, even hyper-cooperative in her treatment, hoping to be able to get the lung transplant, Will is a cynic and a rebel, in part because his prognosis is not as hopeful. Even if the medication is successful, the B-cepacia infection has made him ineligible for a transplant. Stella presses him to keep up with his regimen, and he agrees if she will let him draw her.

Love stories always have to have a reason to keep the couple apart and in this case, that means literally apart. Because of their vulnerability to infection, CF patients have to stay at least six feet from each other. They are like Romeo and Juliet if the Montagues were bacteria and the Capulets were a set of new lungs.

Latex gloves, no touching, and six feet between them at all times. As Stella falls for Will she says, “After all CF has taken from me, I don’t mind stealing one foot back.” And so they have a date, still within the walls of the hospital (apparently hospitals have swimming pools) using a five-foot pool cue to measure their distance. And then, because they are teenagers, they take some very big risks.

It is tempting to dismiss this story as “sick-lit” but director Justin Baldoni balances the compelling specifics of CF with the larger questions we all face about creating meaning in a world of uncertainty and loss. And he does it with two gifted and appealing young stars, especially Richardson, whose exquisitely expressive face shows us every hope, fear, hesitation, regret, and longing Stella is feeling. 

Baldoni clearly learned a great deal from his “My Last Days” television series documenting the lives of terminally ill people, including a teenager with CF, and he shows sensitivity and insight in exploring these issues within a fictional story. He makes the most of the way he uses the hospital setting, the atrium lobby with its drab, sturdy institutional furniture. As Stella and Will fall in love, it seems warmed by their tenderness and excitement.

Even healthy young people can die. Illness can devastate families, emotionally and financially. It is scary to love someone and it can be even scarier to let someone love you, especially when you are embarrassed by your scars. We all try to find a way to feel in control of something, whether it is by lining up pill boxes on a meds cart and doing what we are told or by putting an “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” sign on a hospital door and ignoring good advice. “We don’t have time for delicacy,” one character says, in their case because they may not live a “normal” lifespan, but in reality, films like this remind us we could all do better at making sure we get the most from the time we have.   

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Five Feet Apart (2019)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language and suggestive material.

116 minutes

Cole Sprouse as Will

Haley Lu Richardson as Stella

Moisés Arias as Poe

Kimberly Hebert Gregory as Nurse Barb

Parminder Nagra as Dr. Noor Hamid

Claire Forlani as Meredith

• Justin Baldoni
• Mikki Daughtry
• Tobias Iaconis

Cinematographer

• Frank G. DeMarco
• Angela M. Catanzaro
• Brian Tyler
• Breton Vivian

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Five feet apart, common sense media reviewers.

Strong acting saves predictable, sentimental love story.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Don't take life for granted. Grab love and joy whe

Although cystic fibrosis community is split on som

A young man looks like he's perched precariously o

Lots of yearning looks and one scene in which Stel

Occasional use of strong language, including one "

The AfflowVest, a branded mobile mechanical oscill

Parents need to know that Five Feet Apart is based on the best-selling YA novel about Will (Cole Sprouse) and Stella (Haley Lu Richardson), two hospitalized 17-year-olds with cystic fibrosis (CF) who fall in love. Since the guideline for CF patients is that they should stay a minimum of six feet apart from…

Positive Messages

Don't take life for granted. Grab love and joy wherever you can find them, and treasure those closest to you, because you don't know when death will come calling. Strong element of "if you love someone, set them free." Themes also include perseverance, empathy.

Positive Role Models

Although cystic fibrosis community is split on some aspects of movie, there's agreement that this is one of the few movies to even attempt to represent what it's like for teens living with CF (or something other than cancer). Stella, who also has OCD, is diligent about her treatment schedule, craves order. She's caring, loving to her parents and close friends. Will is edgier and has less discipline, but he's artistic and loving and wants to live each day to its fullest. Poe is a caring, selfless friend. The nurses are patient, dedicated, empathetic.

Violence & Scariness

A young man looks like he's perched precariously on a hospital roof and might fall. (Potential spoiler alerts ahead.) A young character who dies of cystic fibrosis is briefly shown coding, then dead on the floor. A character who looks to have died is saved via CPR. Sad conversations about loved ones who've died (and how they died).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Lots of yearning looks and one scene in which Stella touches her chest sensually in front of Will after they both declare they could touch each other. They also undress down to their underwear and jump into the hospital pool together but don't touch purposely. They hold gloved hands. A couple of cases of asexual accidental touches, both in times of stress or emergency.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional use of strong language, including one "f---ing," plus "bitch" and a couple uses of "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "hell," "goddamn," "boobs," "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The AfflowVest, a branded mobile mechanical oscillation therapy device used by CF and other chronically ill pulmonary patients, is prominently featured.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Five Feet Apart is based on the best-selling YA novel about Will ( Cole Sprouse ) and Stella ( Haley Lu Richardson ), two hospitalized 17-year-olds with cystic fibrosis (CF) who fall in love. Since the guideline for CF patients is that they should stay a minimum of six feet apart from each other due to the danger of cross-infection, the title refers to the one foot the pair "take back" to be a tiny bit closer as their love story develops. Language isn't frequent but includes a use of "f---ing," plus "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," etc., and a few references to sex (or lack thereof). Will and Stella aren't supposed to touch, much less kiss (saliva exchange would be deadly, as one of them has a serious bacterial infection), so there's no sex, although they do undress down to their underwear in one romantic scene. The movie, which had a CF consultant, has been divisive within the CF community; some members are happy to see more awareness for the disease, which affects about 30,000 in the U.S., and others worry that the movie romanticizes the illness or misleads able-bodied audiences. Ultimately, the story promotes treasuring those closest to you and has themes of perseverance and empathy. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (34)
• Kids say (173)

Based on 34 parent reviews

Expert review is missing a lot of details about sex.

Parents be warned, sex is the major talking point of this movie., what's the story.

FIVE FEET APART is one of a growing number of YA book-to-screen adaptations about teens who fall in love under life-and-death circumstances. Stella ( Haley Lu Richardson ) is a kind, rule-following 17-year-old cystic fibrosis (CF) patient who's back in the hospital for a "tune up" when she meets rule- breaking 17-year-old Will ( Cole Sprouse ), who also has CF and is in the hospital. CF patients are supposed to stay at least six feet apart from one another to avoid contagious infections that could worsen their already precarious condition. Stella is patiently awaiting a lung transplant, while Will, who's tested positive for a dangerous bacteria called B. cepacia , can barely remember to take his meds. The two begin a tentative friendship and flirtation that eventually (and predictably) leads to romance. Stella helps Will be more disciplined with his treatments, and he helps her learn to seize the day. But the seemingly insurmountable question remains: Can two people who can't touch really be together?

Is It Any Good?

This love story requires some suspension of disbelief, but its charming stars and and tear-jerking romance will appeal to fans of The Fault in Our Stars . That doesn't mean audiences should expect as much heartbreak as in FiOS , but the "dying teenagers sharing an intense first love" is definitely a theme of Five Feet Apart , too. Richardson in particular is very talented, and she and Sprouse have just enough spark to make it work, although Stella and Will's romance isn't as swoon-worthy as Hazel Grace and Gus' or as adventurous as Maddy and Olly's . After all, Stella and Will can not, must not touch, so their relationship is limited to conversations and endless longing looks. For some inexplicable reason, their parents are rarely on the hospital floor (in sharp contrast to similar films in which parents sit vigil day after day), and the teens interact mostly with kind, maternal Nurse Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory). And Moises Arias stands out as Poe, Stella's hospital bestie and fellow CF patient. Poe supports the idea of Stella, who apparently also has OCD, "dating" Will, even though it puts her at great risk of losing her transplant eligibility.

Because the movie is almost wholly set in the hospital, the plot sometimes feels slow and predictable, and the teens' level of access to all parts of the facility seem far-fetched, considering that such a large hospital would definitely have more attentive security. And the fact that the teens somehow throw a Pinterest-level dinner party is flat-out unbelievable (even with the reason provided). Still, the story will undeniably tug at viewers' heartstrings, and given Sprouse's popularity (thanks to Riverdale ), there's surely an eager fan base ready to see him fall in love, no matter how sad the circumstances.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what Five Feet Apart teaches viewers about cystic fibrosis. Do you know more about the illness than you did before you saw the movie?

The movie has been somewhat controversial within the CF community, even though there was a CF consultant on the film. Do you think movies need to represent every aspect of an illness or disability accurately? Is there value in creating awareness even if a portrayal isn't 100% realistic?

Which characters are role models ? Why? How does the story show the importance of empathy and perseverance ?

If you've read the book, how does the movie compare? Which do you like better? Why?

Why do you think people like stories about sick teens so much?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 15, 2019
• On DVD or streaming : June 11, 2019
• Cast : Haley Lu Richardson , Cole Sprouse , Claire Forlani
• Director : Justin Baldoni
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Lionsgate
• Genre : Romance
• Topics : Book Characters , Friendship
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance
• Run time : 116 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : thematic elements, language and suggestive material
• Last updated : March 7, 2024

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‘Five Feet Apart’ Review: Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse Breathe Life Into Teen Tearjerker

David ehrlich.

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It’s almost irrelevant that Justin Baldoni’s “ Five Feet Apart ” is atypically urgent for a YA-flavored romantic drama about the impossible love between two star-crossed teenagers. Or that Haley Lu Richardson manages to pump some blood into even the most contrived moments of Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis’ script, reaffirming the “ Columbus ” and “Support the Girls” actress as a generational talent on the rise. It doesn’t really matter that the movie uses emotionally pornographic M83 songs and The Postal Service covers to pave over its bumpy stretches, or even that its climactic swing for the fences is an exhausting whiff at the end of a film that just needed to get the ball in play.

What’s important about “Five Feet Apart” is that it’s the first widely accessible Hollywood movie ever made about cystic fibrosis, and that it’s good enough to guarantee at least small uptick in awareness of (and attention to) the perennially under-supported fight to cure one of nature’s cruelest genetic diseases (it causes the human body to produce a thick mucus that covers vital organs and makes it difficult to breathe). That’s not to excuse the film’s shortcomings, but rather to acknowledge how Baldoni’s debut feature has a different and more pointed agenda than “ The Fault in Our Stars ” — how this overwrought weepy uses its subgenre as a means to an end.

The basic idea is brilliant and opportunistic in equal measure: Two horny teenage virgins are trapped in a building together and told that they’ll die if they ever touch. In fact, both of their lives are on the line if there’s ever less than six feet between their hormone-addled bodies. It’s all because Will (“Riverdale” thirst trap Cole Sprouse ), the hunky new bad boy of the hospital’s pediatrics wing, is in a category of cystic fibrosis patients who carry a bacteria strain that is harmless to most people but potentially fatal to those with his condition. It gets worse: The B. cepacia bacteria can be easily spread upon contact with anyone else suffering from cystic fibrosis.

That’s a tough break for Stella (Richardson), a pert and seemingly permanent hospital resident who’s desperate to get close to someone — anyone — before she dies. Stella’s illness has isolated her from the world; she’d be alone if not for her YouTube channel, her nurses, and her sister who no longer seems to visit (parents are all but absent from this movie, which raises questions while also stressing how there are certain social needs that even the most dedicated moms and dads can’t meet for their kids).

On the surface, Stella appears to be the model patient: She’s bright-eyed and bubbly and doing the best she can with the hand life dealt her. She’s never missed a treatment — never broken a rule. Unfortunately, that’s because Stella is wracked by chronic OCD, and suffocating under the anxiety of someone who’s only really living to reward the love that people have shown her along the way. Richardson is brilliant at tempering her natural bubbliness with a deep sense of obligation (every smile feels like it’s for someone else), and the pressure that Stella puts on herself to survive is palpable.

That’s in stark contrast to Will, who’s armored himself against hope. He’s a brooding and disillusioned artist who refuses to accept how lucky he is to be involved in a new drug trial, and his defeatist attitude is enough to drive Stella insane. It’s the same combative dynamic that drives virtually every romantic comedy ever made, only confined to the world’s nicest hospital. The big hallways, spacious atrium, and twinkling swimming paul make it look more like a Hyatt; Will and Stella may never forget where they are, but the movie doesn’t have any interest in making you feel like you’re trapped there with them. That’s okay: While “Five Feet Apart” is obviously the CW version of teen hospital romance, it’s still grim enough to get the point across (much of that burden is shouldered by “ Monos ” star Moises Arias, who plays a spry but sickly patient who’s there to put things in perspective).

Functional direction, uninspired dialogue, and an over-reliance on music-driven montages make for plenty of tedium as the film clumsily positions itself for some melodramatic twists (as if cystic fibrosis weren’t enough!), but a little sincerity goes a long way. Baldoni, a “Jane the Virgin” cast member whose previous work behind the camera includes a documentary series about dying children (“My Last Days”), sees the humanity in these kids, and never allows them to be defined by their diagnoses. And while Sprouse’s performance is 95% glowers and grins, he and Richardson both effectively internalize the shared dilemma of their characters: With such a stubborn and demanding condition, how does someone use the treatment to live, instead of just living for the treatment?

The film is at its best when Stella and Will are feeling their way between risk and reward — when they’re negotiating (with themselves and each other) the difference between “life is short” and “it could be a lot shorter.” The consequences are clear, but what do they really have to lose? The strongest and least sanitized moment comes towards the end of their first date, as the teens stand at the edge of the hospital pool and stare at each other as they strip off their clothes to reveal the scars underneath. The more they act like normal kids, the more their bodies deny that illusion; the closer they get to each other, the harder it is to maintain a healthy distance. This very PG-13 movie doesn’t touch on the Herculean self-restraint it requires for two consenting quasi-terminal high school kids not to touch each other, but prudishness has little to do with the greater point.

Sex isn’t especially relevant to how Stella and Will show each other that life is worth living. On the contrary, the emphasis is less on their bodies than it is the space between them. The movie is called “Five Feet Apart,” which is 12 inches closer than these kids are allowed to get. There’s a reason for that: As the well-motivated but ridiculously labored third act makes clear, this is a story about reclaiming a measure of joy from the world — of owning a bit more of the time we’ve borrowed. That one foot might not seem like a lot, but for Stella it’s an incredible victory. After all, finding a cure for cystic fibrosis has always been a game of inches. In the 1950s, most kids with the condition didn’t survive grade school. Now, the average life expectancy is 37.

“Five Feet Apart” isn’t a charity project, and there’s something a wee bit icky about how cleverly its premise exploits the quirks of a terminal affliction, but there’s no way around the fact that this movie has a future beyond its profit margins. Decent enough as a night out but destined to be used as a fundraising tool, the film is galvanized by its push towards a perverse kind of representation; the idea isn’t to make people with cystic fibrosis feel seen , but rather to erase them altogether. And the highest compliment one can pay to “Five Feet Apart” is that it has the power to play a small, valuable role in that effort.

CBS Films and Lionsgate will release “Five Feet Apart” in theaters on Friday, March 15.

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Movie Review: ‘Five Feet Apart’

NEW YORK — “Five Feet Apart” (Lionsgate), a generally engaging young-adult romantic drama about the redeeming power of sacrificial love, is aimed, with the precision of a heat-seeking missile, at 17-year-old girls.

While mature themes, including sexuality, preclude endorsement for most adolescents, parents may consider the positive values underlying the story sufficient reason to waver in the case of older, well-grounded teens.

Director Justin Baldoni and screenwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis take on mortality from cystic fibrosis, a subject that could easily have led them into tasteless mawkishness. Instead, they’ve treated their material in a way that’s compassionate, medically correct and, for the most part, morally sound.

The film somewhat resembles 2014’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” about a pair of cancer-afflicted young adults. But here there’s the additional peril of bacterial infection.

“I never understood the importance of touch,” Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) reflects, “until I couldn’t have it.”

Stella and Will (Cole Sprouse) are both patients participating in a clinical trial of innovative medications. Both know, however, that their disease will eventually kill them.

Stella, who is hopeful of receiving a lung transplant that would extend her life by at least five years, is orderly and precise about her treatment regimen, and doesn’t understand why Will lacks similar discipline. She also maintains a blog to monitor her progress and has some interest in the possibility of an afterlife — though in a way that’s more broadly spiritual than specifically religious.

He’s not as optimistic as she is about being a transplant candidate, and he’s a fatalist besides: “Stella, nothing is going to save our lives. We’re breathing borrowed air. Enjoy it.”

In keeping with the rom-com formula, they find a way to “date” within the hospital, and their affection for each other grows. But there’s one awful caveat: No touching, and definitely no kissing since sharing bacteria would be almost instantly fatal.

Among the many indignities inflicted on cystic fibrosis patients is the requirement to remain at least 6 feet apart from each other. Stella figures out, however, that she can cheat this distance a little by using a five-foot-long pool cue. By holding on to either end of the cue, she and Will can create a passable illusion of hand-holding intimacy.

Overseeing their care is gruffly maternal nurse Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory), and the pair have a shared friend in wisecracking, gay fellow patient Poe (Moises Arias).

Stella has a couple of tragic secrets; Will, a talented artist, proves eager to be under her moral tutelage; and the parents of both, as is de rigeur in young-adult fare, appear only briefly as supporting players. Thus the would-be lovers have to work out their issues for themselves. Are they living just for their treatment, for instance, or accepting their treatment as a way to embrace life?

The film contains references to homosexuality, a single instance of rough language and fleeting crude talk. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Copyright ©2019 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

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‘Five Feet Apart’ Review: Ailing Teenagers Live Dangerously for Love

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By Ben Kenigsberg

• March 14, 2019

In “Five Feet Apart,” Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) is a teenager with cystic fibrosis. Will (Cole Sprouse), a newcomer to the hospital where she resides, also has the disease and is undergoing a drug trial for an antibiotic-resistant infection . They don’t mesh, at first. She is obsessive-compulsive and effusive; she dutifully takes her meds and keeps a YouTube diary about her life. He is a brooding artist and rule-breaker convinced that they are breathing borrowed air.

Because of the risk of cross-infection , they must stay six feet apart. Five feet, as measured by the pool cue they carry between them, will be their eventual concession to love and living dangerously.

Promoted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as an awareness tool , “Five Feet Apart” is better made than a synopsis suggests. To maintain the illusion of intimacy, the director, Justin Baldoni, plays tricks with focal lengths, often framing Richardson and Sprouse so that they appear close together before cutting to a wide shot that shows them far apart. Richardson, previously wonderful with good material ( “Columbus,” “Support the Girls” ), here cements her genius status by finding depths beyond the contrived screenplay.

The cast’s schlock redemption efforts only go so far in a story that stacks the deck with a tragedy in Stella’s family and a series of increasingly implausible rendezvous between Stella and Will. You can set your watch to what happens to Stella’s best friend (Moises Arias), also a patient, and the last act is a supernova of shamelessness. But even then, this weepie is tough to resist entirely.

Rated PG-13 for flagrant violations of doctor’s orders. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes.

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Film Review: ‘Five Feet Apart’

Haley Lu Richardson shines in an otherwise formulaic teen romance.

By Andrew Barker

Andrew Barker

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A tearjerking romance centered around two teenagers living with cystic fibrosis, first-time feature director Justin Baldoni’s “ Five Feet Apart ” is ultimately little more than a cover band treatment of “The Fault in Our Stars.” But as far as cover bands go, at least it has a hell of a frontwoman in Haley Lu Richardson . Fresh off of memorable supporting parts in “The Edge of Seventeen” and “Support the Girls,” Richardson gives a star turn every bit as charismatic and assured as the film is formulaic and forgettable, bringing soul, style and nuance to a character that could have easily been a condescending caricature.

An exceptional talent in a sea of well-meaning adequacy, Richardson plays Stella, a bright, wryly optimistic high schooler who has been dealing with cystic fibrosis since childhood. When we meet her, she’s just landed in the hospital for yet another extended stay, and wastes no time decorating every inch of her room, organizing her pills into perfect color-coded rows, and putting together detailed to-do lists for each day. Designing apps from bed and livestreaming her treatment sessions as she waits for a lung transplant, she’s turned her corner of the hospital into something of a second home, maintaining a running dialogue with maternal head nurse Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and her deferential gay best friend Poe (Moises Arias), a fellow longtime patient.

But this time, there’s a new kid in the ward: Sarcastic, vaguely rebellious, smolderingly handsome Will ( Cole Sprouse ) has arrived to undergo an experimental clinical trial, and his cavalier attitude toward his own treatment raises the hyper-disciplined Stella’s hackles. Of course, the film conspires to thrust them together almost immediately, and they warm to one another through a hurried on-again-off-again courtship, striking quid-pro-quo deals, FaceTiming each other well into the night, and inevitably hitting speed bumps as they brush up against each another’s secrets and traumas.

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There is, however, a much bigger obstacle to their relationship than the typical rom-com crises: “CFers,” as the characters refer to themselves, are perpetually told to observe the “six-foot rule,” keeping a safe distance from other people with cystic fibrosis to avoid cross-infection. This is a particular concern when it comes to Will, who is infected with the dangerous bacteria B. cepacia, vastly increasing the risk to Stella should she get too close to him. So not only is their budding romance haunted by the very real specter of early mortality, they can’t even hold hands, let alone kiss.

(In case you’re wondering why the film is titled “Five Feet Apart” when the rules call for six, the script does eventually offer a reason for the missing foot. It doesn’t, however, make a whole lot of sense.)

The screenplay, written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, can’t help but clutter up the works with contrivances and clunky dialogue throughout. The film’s handling of Poe falls back on some rather unfortunate “gay best friend” tropes that one might have hoped we’d long since left behind, and its soap-operatic third act offers a jarring pileup of melodramatic twists, some of which drew literal guffaws from the teenage members of an early screening audience. (Several of them went on to openly weep at the film’s denouement, to be fair.) But the film’s middle passage is able to generate genuine sweetness, largely due to Richardson’s low-key magnetism.

When the hesitant couple finally steals away to go on a date (holding a pool cue between them to keep their distance, as well as to serve as a source of surrogate contact) Baldoni cultivates some real sparks, and even a hint of chastely sensual heat, despite rarely leaving the hospital setting. It’s in these scenes – much more so than in its well-intentioned but quasi-academic sequences explaining the challenges of cystic fibrosis – that “Five Feet Apart” manages to humanize the effects of the disease most tangibly and affectingly. If only the rest of the film had followed suit, it might have risen to the level of its star.

Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, March 12, 2019.

• Production: A CBS Films presentation of a Welle Entertainment, Wayfarer Entertainment production. Produced by Cathy Shulman, Justin Baldoni. Executive producer, Christopher H. Warner.
• Crew: Directed by Justin Baldoni. Screenplay, Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis. Camera (color): Frankie G. DeMarco. Editor: Angela M. Catanzaro. Music: Brian Tyler, Breton Vivian.
• With: Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Parminder Nagra, Claire Forlani, Emily Baldoni.

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Five Feet Apart Is the Logical, Heightened Conclusion of the Sick Lit Genre

There’s no expiration date on teens imagining their own deaths in high dramatic fashion, but it’s hard not to feel as if the contemporary “sick lit” phase has run its course. The Fault in Our Stars came out nearly five years ago — ancient history to its target demo — and subsequent attempts to hop on the chronic illness bandwagon haven’t managed to come close to that film’s cultural impact. So here, in the year of our lord 2019, comes Five Feet Apart , and if it ends up being a late entry in the trend, it wouldn’t be a bad one to go out on.

Technically, Five Feet Apart can’t really be grouped into the “sick lit” genre, as it was never “lit” to begin with. The film is based on an original script by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. It tracks the aggressively tragic and impossible romance of Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will (Cole Sprouse), two inpatients with cystic fibrosis residing at a hospital in an indeterminate American locale, who fall in love despite being forbidden to come within six feet of each other. (They bend the rules to make it the titular five, and do their best to get that number down from there.) CF patients can transmit infections between each other that can be fatal, and so even Stella and her long-time best friend Poe (Moisés Arias), despite having rooms down the hall from each other, primarily communicate over FaceTime.

When cynical, hot CF-er Will arrives, he and Stella initially clash — she’s got some advanced OCD tendencies and control issues, and he’s more pessimistic about his life expectancy. (He has literally put a handmade sign that reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” on his door.) Stella eventually gets him to take his treatment schedule more seriously, in exchange for Will being allowed to draw her portrait — a time-tested romancing technique. From there, of course, the two fall madly, maddeningly in love, carrying a pool cue between them on “dates” at the hospital, chastely undressing as they stare dewy-eyed at each other across a swimming pool. In the ranks of YA contrivances for why the two romantic leads can’t have sex, this ranks just south of Twilight. In both cases, nothing short of death and destruction is ensured by the hookup.

The story and Stella and Will’s eventual flouting of the distance rule is predictable, and probably wildly irresponsible as a model for real-life patients with cystic fibrosis. Of course “living life to the fullest” is expressed as a counterargument to not contracting a fatal lung infection. Of course their seen-it-all nurse, Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory), just doesn’t understand the power of their love. Of course someone close to them dies in the third act to really drive home just how life-and-death their situation is. Due credit then should be given to Sprouse and particularly Richardson for selling all of these reheated tropes to their full potential. Richardson, all messy hair and oversized granny sweaters and sickly glow, is as good as she always is, balancing her character’s anxiety and romanticism perfectly. The script saddles Stella with a rather sadistic amount of personal tragedy (CF is just the beginning), but she really digs into what that biblical level of sadness would feel like for a teen. Sprouse is more in CW mode, but he knows how to tell a girl she’s beautiful on screen for maximum theater-seat swooning, and it’s a surprisingly sense-making counterpoint to Richardson’s more realist performance.

The film’s finale is a veritable symphony of tragic ironies, so bent on punishing its leads that they can’t even mutually enjoy a first kiss without its serving a utilitarian purpose. And yet, if this is the logical conclusion of the ever-heightened hospital-gown teen romance, then it’s fitting for it to reach such operatic heights. This isn’t a genre about the illnesses that it features as much it is about the everyday feeling of all teenagers that their feelings will literally kill them. It lives in the agony of the space before you’ve even kissed someone, much less touched them — a longed-for hypothetical so mind-blowing that one can hardly imagine life continuing afterwards.

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My Review of FIVE FEET APART

March 21, 2019 by Bill Pence Leave a comment

Five Feet Apart is an emotional film about two teens with cystic fibrosis who fall in love. The film has some content issues, but also has many positive elements. The film is directed by Justin Baldoni (My Last Days ) based on the young adult novel written by Rachael Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, the latter two of which also wrote the film’s screenplay. Stella, played by Haley Lu Richardson ( Columbus ) was born with cystic fibrosis (CF). As the film begins, she is checking into St. Grace Regional Hospital to deal with an infection, and not able to go on vacation with her friends. At St. Grace she is treated well by the compassionate nurse Barb, played by Kimberly Hebert Gregory, who is skilled in treating Stella and the other CF patients on the floor, including Stella’s best friend Poe, played by Moises Arias.  Stella is very well-organized, sticking to her medical routines and exercise. She maintains a “To Do” list, and loves crossing items off of it. One of the items on her list is to study about the afterlife. She has her own YouTube channel, through which she shares her journey with others. Still, she tries to maintain a positive attitude as she waits for a lung transplant, which will buy her another five years. Will, played by Cole Sprouse ( Riverdale ), is another teenage CF patient in the hospital. He is entering an experimental drug program, but even if it is successful, he is not a candidate for a lung transplant. As a result, he has lost hope and is not faithful in following his treatment program. Stella encourages him to stick with his treatment. Will begins to fall for Stella, and she agrees to spend time with him, and to let him draw her as he requests, if he will follow a prescribed routine that she organizes for him. As CF patients are vulnerable to infection, Will and Stella are not allowed to touch. In addition, they must stay at a distance of six feet apart. One of the ways they stay in touch is by Face Timing with each other while in their rooms doing their treatments. As their relationship grows, Stella decides that CF has taken enough from she and Will. As a result, she takes one foot back, and uses a five-foot pool cue to measure the distance that she and Will have to stay apart. The two fall in love, knowing that the odds are against their relationship. How will things turn out?  Will Stella get a lung transplant? Will the experimental treatment help Will? The acting performances from the four leading characters are all solid and realistic. Themes in the film include risk, love, death and dying, responsibility, caring for others, hope, human touch and forgiveness.  Content concerns include some adult language, including the abuse of God’s name, and some language of a sexual nature. Poe is a homosexual, who talks about his multiple sexual partners and his love for his boyfriend. It seems that relationships with parents are not close and loving.  Though one of the items on Stella’s “To Do” list is the afterlife, there is no mention of God.  We only see a Hari Krishna symbol on Stella’s hospital room wall and see her meditating. Five Feet Apart is an emotional film that has some content issues but also many positive elements.  With so many people in the audience under the age of 25, it was refreshing to see love, friendship and intimacy being portrayed without a sexual relationship.   To see Will delight in Stella because of who she is and not her appearance was great. So… for those of you who have read the book, was the book better than the film?

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Author: Bill Pence

I’m Bill Pence – married to my best friend Tammy, a graduate of Covenant Seminary, St. Louis Cardinals fan, formerly a manager at a Fortune 50 organization, and in leadership at my local church. I am a life-long learner and have a passion to help people develop, and to use their strengths to their fullest potential. I am an INTJ on Myers-Briggs, 3 on the Enneagram, my top five Strengthsfinder themes are: Belief, Responsibility, Learner, Harmony, and Achiever, and my two StandOut strength roles are Creator and Equalizer. My favorite book is the Bible, with Romans my favorite book of the Bible, and Colossians 3:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 being my favorite verses. Some of my other favorite books are The Holiness of God and Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul, and Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. I enjoy music in a variety of genres, including modern hymns, Christian hip-hop and classic rock. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace and Tammy’s book Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold are available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon. amazon.com/author/billpence amazon.com/author/tammypence

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Five Feet Apart

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Elevated considerably by Haley Lu Richardson's performance but bogged down by clichés, Five Feet Apart doesn't tug at the heartstrings quite as deftly as it should.

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Justin Baldoni

Haley Lu Richardson

Cole Sprouse

Moises Arias

Kimberly Hebert Gregory

Parminder Nagra

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‘Five Feet Apart’ movie review: love and chronic illness

March 16, 2019

An untouchable love-story

Based on the book published in 2018, the “Five Feet Apart” film released March 15, 2019. It follows the story of two teenagers with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder affecting the lungs and digestive system, who fall in love under less-than desirable circumstances: they can never touch.

The movie, while heart capturing and breaking at the same time, seems to be the peak of several sensationalized media outbreaks based on the disease.

The song “I Lived” by One Republic holds special meaning for me as it was the song that my class walked out to after high school graduation. I remember watching the video, which was created in partnership with a cyclist with cystic fibrosis, Bryan Warnecke, and hearing about the disease for the first time.

A few years later, Claire Wineland came into the light as a YouTube sensation who created and used her platform to share her life with cystic fibrosis. Her story was a large part of the inspiration behind the film directed by Justin Baldoni, who met her while filming a documentary about people living life to the fullest despite suffering from chronic illnesses.

This movie was one I wanted to see partly because it co-stars Cole Sprouse, debatably everyone’s childhood crush and rising heartthrob from his role in the CW series “Riverdale” and female lead, Haley Lu Richardson, best known for her roles in “The Edge of Seventeen” and “Split,” played the role of Stella.

The story introduces Stella as an average girl who loves spending time with her friends, reading and appreciating art. Her life is complicated beyond the point of having a chronic illness when she meets the incurably frustrating Will, played by Sprouse, and the two begin to fall in love.

The complication comes with the fact that people with cystic fibrosis must remain six feet apart, or as far as a cough can travel, from other people with cystic fibrosis so as to avoid contracting each other’s bacteria. This can be fatal for their weakened immune systems. As you can infer from the movie title, the pair begins finding ways to bend the rules in an attempt to close the physical gap between them and “steals back” one foot of space.

The overarching theme of the story is the importance of physical, human touch, especially between us and those we love the most. As someone who isn’t too keen on physical touch, the story convicted me in a way. In the movie, Stella gives a piece of advice saying that, if you can, go touch the person you love.

Just watching the movie, the audience could feel the intensity and almost painful desire from both Will and Stella to reach out and break that touch barrier that is keeping them safe from death. The truth I took from it is that we as humans crave physical touch in one way or another, and so long as we have the ability to give and receive that touch, we should do just that.

The movie is a must-see. Whether it be for the hopeless romantic, the medical geek or someone like me who needs to understand the importance of physical touch to the human experience. The story is relatable in a you-only-live-once type of way and pulls on heartstrings I didn’t know I had.

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• cole sprouse
• cystic fibrosis
• five feet apart
• haley lu richardson
• justin baldoni
• movie review

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Five Feet Apart (2019)

March 14, 2019 by Robert Kojder

Five Feet Apart , 2019.

Directed by Justin Baldoni. Starring Cole Sprouse, Haley Lu Richardson, Moisés Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Parminder Nagra, Emily Baldoni, Gary Weeks, and Claire Forlani.

Two teenagers with life-threatening illnesses meet in a hospital and fall in love.

Technically not a cinematic universe, the latest edition of diseased and doomed star-crossed teenagers, Five Feet Apart , focuses on a hospital wing dedicated to treating patients with cystic fibrosis. It’s also important to note that these patients are instructed to remain six feet apart from one another at all times to negate the risk of mixing up their individual bacteria, subsequently intensifying their sickness. The first question on anyone’s mind is likely “then why the hell is the movie called Five Feet Apart “, which is a fair enough inquiry.

Haley Lu Richardson (the tremendously talented young actress that can be seen in far better films such as Columbus and Support the Girls ) spends more time inside hospitals than outdoors due to her condition (although she does have big dreams like traveling the world with her sister Abby). Despite the all-consuming frustrations piled on by cystic fibrosis she sticks to her medication and daily routines strictly, so much so that when new patient and heartthrob Will (Cole Sprouse, who cannot emote as well or hang with his co-star dramatically) shows up with a carefree bad boy attitude towards a disease he feels is not worth fighting, she becomes determined to help him get back on track, show him that life is worth living, and get as emotionally close to him as possible while acknowledging the distance rule.

On one hand, it’s legitimately refreshing to watch a sappy romance where the girl must save the boy, but I’m also not sure it matters when the results are middling at best. Naturally, a PG-13 love story is going to lob softballs at this subject matter, as evident during a thematic scene where the lovebirds strip down as much as the MPAA will allow for a movie like this, fully displaying their surgery scars and bruised bodies, but all of this is undercut by the fact that these people are extremely attractive regardless of cystic fibrosis. Sure, they also appear sickly (credit the makeup department for their efforts), but if you’re telling a romantic story about people that the majority of our shallow society would deem undesirable or unworthy of a meaningful relationship, you don’t cast these people. Hollywood will never learn, continuing to make these misguided films once a year, proving time and time again that it’s easy to find love with a terminal illness as long as your impossibly attractive.

With that said, the script from Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis draws these teenagers with intelligence and maturity that is noticeably a cut above their peers living a normal life. The story is heavy-handed but it does contain believable dialogue and motives, for the most part. Basically, Five Feet Apart truly goes off the rails with a third act so ridiculous viewers will spend most of it pondering if the movie will actually go to most painfully predictable route obvious. It’s also a narrative direction that sucks away every positive complement I just gave these characters regarding their smarts. Baffling doesn’t even begin to describe it, as the movie also shoves forced melodrama in your face with the impact of two freight trains colliding head-on.

The hospital staff is also some of the absolute worst ever depicted, including a well-meaning and caring nurse named Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) that expresses wanting to keep Stella and Will apart so there are no repeats on her watch of a previous incident where she allowed a pair of love birds to stay close to one another in private, presumably worsening each other’s cystic fibrosis, and inevitably dying. That’s all fine and good, but her and the rest of the employees in charge of this establishment have a habit of letting anyone and everyone wander off alone without so much as a clue where they are. At one point, Stella and Will actually casually walk out of the hospital (no stealth) to take a walk and go look at Christmas lights. Now I haven’t been hospitalized since 2011 *knocks on wood* but I’m fairly certain no terminally ill teenager can get up and leave the building for any reason without some kind of confrontation, but you know, plot contrivances and all that.

It’s a shame considering there are things to like in Five Feet Apart ; Haley Lu Richardson nails her emotional monologues regarding how much cystic fibrosis has taken from her, Stella has a longtime companion named Poe (Moises Arias) struggling through relationship woes of his own (he is also gay which the film wisely never makes the defining trait of his character), it’s accurate for repeat hospital visitors to become friends with the various tender nurses out there, and no matter how ludicrous a hospital date sounds, it’s actually touching. There is also some nice cinematography that plays up the emotional struggle of being so close yet still far apart. And without spoiling anything, Stella also goes through an arc of survivor’s guilt, which has its ups and downs thematically like the rest of the movie.

The problem is that the lows of Five Feet Apart drag the teenage romance story six feet under; it doesn’t even feel crafted by the same filmmaking team (I actually checked to see if the movie switched or had multiple directors, but Justin Baldoni is indeed the only attached name) and destroys whatever goodwill that can be found up until that point. I’m not sure what’s more stupid, the final 30 minutes or the outrageously incompetent hospital staff.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated  Patreon , or email me at [email protected]

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Published on 03/15/2019

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“Five Feet Apart” Movie Review

Allow me to preface by saying that the trailer gave me very high expectations going into this film. I was prepared for what was probably going to be a predictable teen romance film; a passionate, yet tragic love story between two ill teenagers, something along the lines of 2014’s “The Fault in Our Stars” — in many respects, it was. But the unfortunate twist in this story is that the characters could not get any closer than six feet apart because it would literally kill them — these characters agree to compromise on five feet apart instead.

Directed by “Jane the Virgin”’s Justin Baldoni, “Five Feet Apart” follows Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will (Cole Sprouse), two teenagers with cystic fibrosis, who meet at Saint Grace Regional hospital. Individuals with CF are not allowed near each other at the risk of cross-infection, and on top of that, Will also carries the b. cepacia bacteria, an antibiotic-resistant complication of CF. This endangers Stella further, so you can imagine the complications that come into play with falling in love under

such circumstances.

The film brings about an awareness of CF. During production, many members of the CF community were involved for reference. However, mixed reviews were received from advocates, many of which thought the film misrepresented the disorder. For example, realistically, CF patients wouldn’t be allowed to be around each other without masks, as it showed in the film.

Put simply, the film brought me on one of the most adorable — yet incredibly emotional — roller coasters I have ever been on. I ugly-cried three times in an otherwise silent movie theater.

The actors did an amazing job at humanizing the experiences of those with CF that not many people may know about. Watching Stella and Will’s relationship grow was beautiful to watch because it was genuine. They couldn’t form a physical connection, so that gave the film room to showcase a stronger, more emotional one. That is what differentiated this movie and gave it the “ugly-cry” potential. The fact that they were forbidden to touch was a dark cloud over an otherwise epic love story.

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Five Feet Apart (2019)

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'Five Feet Apart' Review: A Romance That Aims For Tears By Sacrificing Everything Else

Haley Lu Richardson has "up-and-coming movie star" written all over her, from her innate charm to her high-wattage smile, which she puts to excellent use in the sappy star-crossed romance Five Feet Apart . Richardson, who established herself with her impressive work in The Edge of Seventeen , Columbus , and Support The Girls , has an undeniable charisma that ensures her performance here is something truly special. The film surrounding Richardson, unfortunately, ends up being so mawkish and contrived that it's more likely to elicit groans than tears. The title, Five Feet Apart , refers to the distance that the two leads must maintain from each other lest they cross-contaminate with often deadly bacteria. No, this isn't some weird new post-apocalyptic, dystopian YA franchise. Almost every scene in this film takes place in a fancy, expansive hospital, specifically the ward in which children and teenagers diagnosed with cystic fibrosis reside. Those with CF, as it's nicknamed, have limited lung capacity and an equally limited lifespan, to the point where many don't live long enough to try to have children of their own. This explainer is provided helpfully via the YouTube channel of the teenaged Stella (Richardson), who's just returned to the hospital for a "tune-up." It's there that she encounters  fellow CF patient Will (Cole Sprouse), who's been selected for a new drug trial in hopes of combating the currently cure-less disease. Typically, CF patients must keep six feet away from each other, but as Stella and Will fall madly in love, they dare to risk things by a single foot. With the premise being what it is, it should come as no surprise that Five Feet Apart aspires to be the kind of weepie teenage drama like A Walk to Remember , the kind of film that will be a formative experience for the right demographic due to exactly how many tears you shed in the third act. Its basic hook is an almost parodic extension of the way YA writers contrive to keep their star-crossed lovers apart; this time, they literally can't even touch each other. But the premise is easier to swallow than its shamelessly manipulative finale. That, essentially, is the problem with the script, by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis: Five Feet Apart feels shakily reverse-engineered to arrive at an ending that will leave the audience sobbing. What would have been nice is if the script built to a tearful conclusion naturally, instead of contriving a series of events in the third act that pile atop each other like a painful car crash. It's one thing for the script to offer its own version of the old cop-movie cliché where the lead is partnered with a fellow cop who's just one week away from retirement, but is in reality headed for death. It's another to use that cliché, and then have a couple of characters running away, and the possibility of an organ transplant, and even more — all within the span of a single night. The third act of Five Feet Apart stands out as being especially frustrating in part because what comes before it is, if not world-beating cinema, a decent exploration of how different teenagers respond to a death-sentence diagnosis. Stella, as we see from the first scene, wants to live her life as opposed to dwell on the likelihood that it will come to an end for her much earlier than it should. Will, when we first meet him, is gloomy and callow, treating life fatalistically before Stella's ebullience turns him around. (From scene to scene, it's hard to tell if one or the other leads is a manic pixie dream character, their moments of charm seeming to exist solely to cheer someone up.) Richardson and Sprouse have an affable chemistry, even if it's not quite enough to make you think they've fallen hopelessly in love with each other. This is, in part, because Sprouse is saddled with some relatively rough dialogue. When Will declares his passion for Stella in a nighttime dalliance at the hospital's pool, it sounds like overheated treacle, whereas when Stella admits her own attraction, it's via a goofy voicemail she leaves him while hopped up on morphine. At least in the latter situation, the unexpected setup becomes more charming. But because the way the script is written, and how director Justin Baldoni (best known as Rafael on the CW dramedy Jane the Virgin ) paces the story, Five Feet Apart goes into overdrive in the final half-hour to wring as many tears as possible through a series of events that are both unlikely and ridiculous. Both leads do their best in these scenes, though it becomes clear that their innate talent can only extend so far before even they're unable to elevate eye-rolling material. Five Feet Apart is not a great film, but it has greatness within its grasp thanks to Haley Lu Richardson. As in her previous work, Richardson here is nothing less than a star in the making. Her past films, ranging from teen comedies to indie character studies, emphasize that with the right material, she can be a truly winning presence. Five Feet Apart suggests that Richardson can excel even in slightly juvenile material. But she can only do so much. /Film Rating: 5 out of 10

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‘Five Feet Apart’ Movie Review: A Familiar Love Story With a Bigger Message

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Five Feet Apart stars Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson as Will and Stella, two teenagers diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. It tells an emotional and heartfelt story about it and due to the illness, anyone with cystic fibrosis must never be more than six feet close to each other because of the risk of cross-contamination and infection. It’s a story of familiarity but luckily manages to bring more depth and a bigger message onto the table.

What I originally thought was going to be a copycat story to the movie The Fault in Our Stars ended up being a story with a bigger meaning than two teens falling in love but what having an illness like cystic fibrosis does to the minds of these individuals. It takes a toll on them and that message is clear as day throughout the film. The story itself is something we have seen before because it follows a familiar formula.

Unless you live under a rock, most of us are familiar with the Riverdale star Cole Sprouse, who still manages to bring his wit and charm to this role along with Haley Lu Richardson known for starring alongside Hailee Steinfeld in T he Edge of Seventeen . Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson really made this film to be a lot more than just mediocre. They portray and convey the physical and mental state of Cystic Fibrosis patients. Their chemistry really shows and shines through. Both of them taking on roles in what I believe is in a respectful manner.

This film has the typical teen love story, but it does something a little bit different, here and there. Definitely not completely predictable, but familiar. My biggest critique is the inconsistent pacing that only gets better after the first act of the film. Some of the smaller flaws do not necessarily take away from what the film’s message is and that was a huge relief despite having a couple of things happen that did not seem to make complete sense.

We learn a lot of the other battles that Richardson’s character Stella has gone through. So over time, it makes you realize that an illness is not always their only battle. An illness that can kill might not always be what will kill a loved one first. What surprised me most about this film is how it ironically felt like it took my breath away at times. Stella and Will both made me nervous, tense, and happy about what their relationship was like throughout the movie. Certain moments made me feel for these characters and honestly, it either broke my heart or warmed it.

After a slow first act, the film develops Stella and Will’s blossoming relationship with much better momentum. Even when the film rushes through certain parts of their relationship, their interactions make sense. After all, they are two very ill young teens who do not know when they could take their last breath.

In the end, Five Feet Apart tries to create a unique story and in a sense, it does, but it’s also a very familiar plot. Despite that, we have two amazing actors with some of the best interactions I have seen in ages. This movie teaches all of us that we need to remember to love in the present because what happens in life is not always in our control. And as cheesy as it sounds, you should live, laugh, and love in the now. Five Feet Apart is a story of a friendship turned love story that reflects that very message and so much more. – Jacqueline Lainez

Rating: 7/10

Five Feet Apart is currently playing in theaters.

The film stars Cole Sprouse, Haley Lu Richardson, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory and Parminder Nagra.

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Five Feet Apart (2019) Review

THE FAULT IN OUR TEEN ROMANCE

It goes without saying that teen movies have become a dime a dozen in the Hollywood industry of filmmaking. While it’s most a subgenre of sorts (could be various film genres), teen movies have been around for some time, with some fan favorites being produced back in 80s like Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off just to name a few. Push more into the later 2000s era, Hollywood has started to cater to the more “millennial” generation, producing feature films that appeal to the current age of teenagers. Movies like Easy A , The Perks of Being a Wallflower , The Spectacular Now , The Edge of Seventeen , The Fault in Our Stars , Paper Towns , and many others have become increasingly steadfast in the current releases for each subsequent year that follows. While the gender has gone on into the more “fantastical” realms with its narrative and stories (see popular dystopian franchise series like The Hunger Games saga or The Maze Runner trilogy), Hollywood continues to produce teen drama feature films, including 2018 movies like Everything, Everything , Midnight Sun , and Love, Simon . Now, Lionsgate films (along with CBS Films) and director Justin Baloni presents the latest teen romance drama endeavor with the movie Five Feet Apart . Does this 2019 motion picture stand to make a differentiate itself from similar films or is it just another “run-of-the-mill” teen melodrama endeavor?

Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) suffers from cystic fibrosis (a genetic disorder that mostly affects a person’s lungs), returning to the hospital for a lengthy duration to receive medical treatment when her condition “flared” up. She’s made a home in the medical center, respecting the “six feet” distance rule, where patients are forced to keep their distance from other CF residents. Enter Will Newman (Cole Sprouse), a new arrival CF patient who’s undergoing a special clinical trial, who immediately takes shine to Stella’s presence in the hospital. While initially resistant to Will’s forward charm, she eventually warms up to the teenage artist, sharing a special bond of friendship as she helps him with his self-treatments and medicine during his stay. However, while the two can’t touch or even be close, a budding relationship ensues, with Stella confronting past memories and her current situation, while Will faces his own shortened mortality and the life he chooses to live.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Yes, I’ll admit…. I do like some teen dramas movie out there (both old and new ones). Growing up in the 90s, I saw plenty of 90s teen based driven movies, especially the ones towards the late 90s / early 00s era, including American Pie , She’s All That , 10 Things I Hate About You , A Walk to Remember , and several other ones. Of course, I also liked a lot of the teen movies from the 80s, but (to be honest) I actually didn’t see those ones until later (when I became more interested in watching movies). As for the new “millennial” movies, I do like to have them as well, but sometimes they can be a bit “hit or miss” to me. Of course, like I said above, some teen film endeavors have essentially worked (i.e. The Twilight saga, the Hunger Games saga, and standalone features li Ake The Fault in Our Stars or Love, Simon . In truth, teen movies can be difficult thing to pull off as sometimes they can be too “syrupy” in teen drama or too “unrealistic”. Of course, these movies are usually gear towards teenagers (a demographic between ages 13 to 18 roughly) and they can be (mostly the romance drama comedies ones) a bit too predictable and formulaic with plenty of well-trodden paths to follow from start to finish.

This brings me back to talking about the film Five Feet Apart , the latest YA / Teen Romance that portrays youthful teenagers fall in love in amongst the ill-fate disease that plagues or both of them. To be honest, I really don’t remember hearing about the movie online until I saw the movie trailer for it around November 2018 (I saw it when I went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ). Judging from the trailer, my first opinion about this movie was that it was gonna be just another melodramatic teen / YA endeavor that I’ve seeing plenty of times over the past several years in other feature films. The cast (i.e. the film’s two leads) I do like from their past projects, which did interest me, but it wasn’t something I was fully excited to see. However, as I continue to “broaden” my movie horizons, I went to go see the movie during its opening weekend, hoping the feature would be produce something “different” (again…hoping) from what I’ve seeing in the past. So…what did I think of it? Well, despite the film’s noblest intentions of making a wholesome story, Five Feet Apart does falter and gets bogged down with generic / formulaic teen romance syrup drama. The movie is not a complete disappointment, but it never reaches the standards of what it aspires to be.

Five Feet Apart is directed by Justin Baloni, who has done previous actor roles in projects like Jane the Virgin and The Bold and the Beautiful as well as directing several TV movie documentaries like My Last Days and Rebel with a Cause: The Sam Simon Story . Thus, Baloni makes his directorial debut (as a feature film director) with this particular movie; making Five Feet Apart his most ambitious project to date. To his credit, Baloni does succeed in accomplishing a somewhat decent job in crafting a motion picture out of a narrative such as this (even though its derivate to other similar movies that have come before) and does a fairly good job in tackling a project on this scale (i.e. a small-scale personal story rather than massively scale blockbuster endeavor). Baloni takes the standard aspects and nuances of the classic teen cinematic arena of filmmaking and presenting them in this feature film; focusing its narrative on the characters of Stella and Will and their “day to day” lives of living in the hospital and how they cope with their ill-fated disease (physically and mentality). Moreover, Baloni certainly does help explain (or rather shedding light) on the condition of CF (i.e. cystic fibrosis) and how fragile a person’s life is when the disease is contracted. The whole “six feet apart” rule is actually quite interesting as well as all their various treatments that Stella and Will undergo. It’s also interesting to see how both characters come to terms with their lives. Yes, both follow the predictable nature of youthful teens falling love, but the characters are both more mature like individuals, making adult decisions for their treatments and coming to terms with their inevitable end (i.e. the finality of their lives). It may be just overly dramatic at some points, but its something worth noting in tale like this. Essentially, Baldoni makes the story work, proceeding to tell a gentle tale that focuses on the blossoming “young love” relationship of two people and horrible burden that must live.

In terms of technical presentation, Five Feet Apart looks and feel like something appropriate for a teen romance drama endeavor. Overall, the movie isn’t really something extraordinary of scope and scale, but a narrative like this shouldn’t be large and expansive. Thus, the overall presentation of the feature keeps majority of the film’s setting / backdrop minimal as we (the viewers) focus on the characters that populate the world. That being said, the efforts made by Tony Fanning (production designs), Bradford Johnson (set decorations), and Rachel Sage Kunin (costume designs) are all quite good for this specific film genre endeavor as well as a few cinematography shots from Frank G. DeMarco and the film’s gently score by Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian. Additionally, the movie does have the mellow / somber tone of teen music soundtrack selection of which usually do accompany teen-based motion pictures. Most of them are gentle and pleasant to listen to whenever they play (mostly to help sequences of emotional drama), but most of them feel exactly the same and kind of run together (as if they’re doing by the same one or two artists).

The film’s script, which was penned by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, does contribute to that factor, painting a very “teen based” centric drama vibe throughout the entire feature. Of course, that’s the very nature of the film, so it can be overlooked to some degree. That being said, however, the script is a little flimsy on how it handles certain aspects and narrative nuances. A perfect example of this is the personal relationships that both characters Stella and Will have with their parents. To be quite honest, their parents are barely in the movie and one who think they (as parents to these teens) would play a more instrumental part of the story. However, there barely in it and lets a lot to be desired in that aspect. Another goofy / silly aspect is how Stella gets involved with Will’s treatment. It seems very convenient and doesn’t feel organic…. just a plot device for her to get close to him. There’s also plenty of somewhat eye-rolling moments of melodrama of teen angst. Again, I was expecting this from the movie, but it was bit too much and felt too theatrically blah (i.e. too syrupy).

Perhaps the greatest strength that movie has to offer is in the combine acting talents of the film’s central leads of Stella Grant and Will Newman, who are played by actress Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse. Of the two, Richardson, known for her roles in The Edge of Seventeen , Spilt , and Operation Finale , does carry a lot of the film’s emotional weight on her shoulders and do so with enough theatrical dramatics to make us (the viewer) sympathetic her plights over her CF condition and her affect towards Will. Likewise, Sprouse, known for his roles in Riverdale , Friends , and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody , does a great job in selling the more brooding / rebellious youth of the pair, sharing moments of levity and heartfelt dramatic moments when a scene calls for them. Together, both Richardson and Sprouse have a likeable quality to both of their characters (always rooting for them through their trials and tribulations throughout) and do have a rather good on-screen chemistry with each other, which certainly does help sell their teenage love for one another effectively. It’s nothing remarkable or electrifying, but it definitely carries the film (emotionally) and is definitely better than most I’ve seeing in past Teen / YA romance endeavors.

Of the supporting cast, the only two the truly do shine (or at least make a lasting impression on the movie) are the characters of Poe (Stella’s gay friend at the hospital who also has CF as well) and Barb (one of the nurses that works at the hospital and oversees many of the CF patients). Played by Moises Arias ( Hannah Montana and Ender’s Game ) and Kimberly Herbert Gregory ( Vice Principals and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World ), these two characters definitely are solid supporting characters that help bolster the character builds of both Stella and Will in the movie and definitely play their respective parts in the feature’s narrative. Thus, both Arias and Gregory did respectable jobs in their roles as Poe and Nurse Barb.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast of characters in the movie, including actress Parminder Nagra ( Bend it Like Beckham and The Blacklist ) as Dr. Hamid, actress Claire Forlani ( Meet Joe Black and Mallrats ) as Will’s mom Meredith Newman, actress Trina LaFargue ( Queen Sugar and Claws ) as Mya, actress Ariana Guerra ( Candy Jar and Dumplin’ ) as Hope, actress Cecilia Leal ( Mr. Mercedes and Cloak & Dagger ) as Camila, actor Brett Austin Johnson ( Swamp Murders ) as Jason, actress Cynthia Evans ( High Rise and Tales ) as Stella’s mom Erin Grant, and Greg Weeks ( Instant Family and Parks and Recreation ) as Stella’s dad Tom Grant, are all very weak characters in the movie. I’m not saying that these particular roles are poorly acted (all these actors and actresses give solid performances in their respective roles), but the movie never allows these characters to flourish or expand upon beyond their initial introduction, which (as I mentioned above) is a disappointing, especially since several of these characters should’ve been more developed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The young tragic love of Stella Grant and Will Newman comes together during their hospital stay for their CF treatment in the movie Five Feet Apart. Director Justin Baloni’s directorial theatrical debut sees the classic story of young teen romance and makes it another carnation of those narrative; giving those who have cystic fibrosis a cinematic teen soapy love story to call their own. While the film’s content is poignant and respectful and two leads do a great job in selling their relationship (and well-acted to boot), majority of the feature does feel completely predictable and formulaic; becoming to syrupy and clichés (along with a problematic third act and some perplexing / flat supporting characters) to discern from similar movies out there. Personally, I thought this movie was just okay. I mean I thought the story cute and tender (for a teen romance arena), but I thought it was too generic and too much melodrama syrupy. Thus, my recommendation would be an “iffy choice”, for those who have a special affinity to these types of movies will like it, but everyone else might think its bland and too over-the-top teenager dramatics. In the end, Five Feet Apart , despite its strong performance from both Richardson and Sprouse as well as a gentle story of love and life, falls short of establishing itself in the teen / YA film genre. Just another youthful tragic love that feels too derivate to The Fault in Our Stars .

3.2 Out of 5 (Iffy Choice)

Released on: march 15th, 2019, reviewed on: april 1st, 2019.

Five Feet Apart  is 112 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language, and suggestive material 

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I was with it most of the way even with its blemishes. But that final act was pretty rough.

Disease of the week dramas usually showed up as the midday movie on TV. I don’t know why people think this dross is cinema worthy.

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Film Review – Five Feet Apart (2019)

When I heard about Five Feet Apart , there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to watch it, regardless what the critics said about it. Firstly, it brings attention to cystic fibrosis — the illness and the challenges experienced, and I was going to support it just for that. Secondly, the lead actors may be young, but they are good . I love Haley Lu Richardson ‘s performance in The Edge of Seventeen and Cole Sprouse is one of the reasons I even watch Riverdale . And come on, directed by Justin Baldoni, the dreamy Rafael from Jane the Virgin ? It was clear that I was going to be in those plush (hopefully not popcorn-stained) red seats come opening weekend.

This movie is not the first movie about sick teenagers finding love. We have a whole host of that —  A Walk to Remember , The Fault in Our Stars , Everything, Everything etc. The difference between those movies and this one is that Five Feet Apart is not just about the romance. The romance is the key defining element in all the other movies I listed. Two teenagers fall in love, one (or two in the case of The Fault in Our Stars ) is sick or gets sick, there is a sickness defining moment, then someone dies. I am not the one who came up with the formula, so please don’t shoot the messenger.

Five Feet Apart has the elements of a teen romance , but it is more about figuring out why we live — sickness or no sickness. There is the usual saccharine and mush, accompanied by an immense sense of realness. However, there is nothing about it that makes it stand out as a memorable movie, merely a film to be watched in the moment, and forgotten once it is over.

The following review will be spoiler free.

Directed By:  Justin Baldoni

Written By:  Mickey Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis

Starring: Haley Lu Richardson , Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Parminder Nagra , Claire Forlani, Emily Baldoni, Gary Weeks and Cynthia Evans

Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) is a regular teenager. She has a great group of friends, supportive parents, a YouTube channel and a best friend (Moises Arias) she spends loads of time with but can never touch. That’s because her best friend has cystic fibrosis, and Stella has it too, which means they have to be six feet apart at all times. Stella is used to her life of hospitals, missed travel opportunities because she is down with an infection, surgeries on top of the rigorous medical regime she has to go through. She is fine with all that, until she meets Will (Cole Sprouse) and discovers she wants more.

Image via People

What piqued my interest the most about this movie is why Justin Baldoni decided this story would be his directorial debut. One of Baldoni’s favorite stories is Romeo and Juliet . He is a hopeless romantic and loves stories that explore such themes. This is what spurred his desire to create this digital show entitled My Last Days , which explored individuals choosing love in the face of a chronic or terminal illness. During the filming of this show, he met a wonderful woman — Claire Wineland — who suffers from cystic fibrosis (CF).

He asked her if she had ever dated anyone with CF, and that is when he found out that people with CF need to stay six feet apart from others with CF because there is a high chance of them contracting the others’ bacteria — hence the title (to find out why it is five feet instead of six you will have to watch the movie). Claire was hired as a consultant on the project but unfortunately passed away before she could see its completion.

Cystic Fibrosis

Image via Empire

We all know of CF, but in a cerebral, detached way. The movie immediately brings us into the world of the illness, smartly using Stella’s YouTube channel as a way to share information without the audience feeling overwhelmed. There is no glamorizing involved. We are exposed to their daily treatments — the mucous, the coughing, the exhaustion in having to maneuver through all this and still keep to a normal routine of exercise and studies. The two actors look thinner and more worn-out than I have ever seen them look, which was intentionally done by Baldoni. Sprouse was told to lose weight to add authenticity to the role.

If I think back to all those other teen movies I mentioned, the illness they have is referred to but for the most part, it plays no role until the climax of the movie, where there is a slip back into the illness. I know that in The Fault in Our Stars the two protagonists have cancer, but I don’t think I could tell you the details, mainly because the movie doesn’t linger on that. The romance and the tragedy of it is what stands out. Five Feet Apart is deliberate in doing the opposite. We spend most of the movie in the confines of the hospital, with the constant reminder of CF in every moment, romance or not.

Strong Young Lead Actors

Image via Refinery29

Love stories of this nature are the hardest type to do. The actors need to have the chemistry and be able to communicate to the audience the authenticity of the love these characters share. And because of the story revolving around CF, there is immense grief involved as well. Richardson is lovely to watch on screen. Yes she is beautiful, but she has something that goes beyond her movie star good looks. There is this amazing energy she has in the portrayal of Stella, who wants to live but isn’t sure how to when CF has dominated her entire life.

Sprouse does the brooding artist very well, and it is easy to see why the two would be drawn to each other. I have a feeling that this movie will do well because of Sprouse alone. Weight loss or not, there is not much you can do to take away from the leading man’s dashing good looks. Thank god he is a good actor and not just another pretty face.

There is so much crying in this movie, however, it never feels overwrought or too much, because the actors do their job. It is not an easy thing to communicate intimacy without even touching the other person, but we feel the chemistry by the truckload from the two despite their five feet apart status.

Death and Grief

Due to the nature of their illness, the two have numerous discussions about death . It reminds the audience about the difference of the lives of these teenagers in comparison to those without CF. Regular teen conversations wouldn’t constantly have death dancing in the periphery. Will wonders about the last breath, and two ponder aloud about what awaits after death. Is death just a step to another life, or is it permanent sleep?

The issue here is that death is not the only thing they need to contend with, it is also the years of having to fight death and how it impacts not only those with CF but the people around them as well. It is easy to say live life, choose love, fight for what you want, but choosing someone to love means involving them in the world of hospitals, sickness, slogging for days you are not sure you have. Wineland mentioned to Baldoni that she didn’t have many friends with CF because she hated having to watch her friends pass away — this is the reality of the illness.

Final Thoughts

Image via Colac Cinemas

While I do like this movie and appreciate how its creation has spread more awareness about CF, I do think it is playing ball in a genre that feels a bit played-out. There is nothing in particular about the movie I will remember. It feels a bit draggy at moments, and is sometimes so clichéd that I could predict certain plot-points a mile away. Moises Arias as Stella’s best friend Poe is the most surprising part of the movie for me. I remember him from his Disney days, and it is good to see him so grown as an actor. As much as this is Stella’s story, Poe is the heart of the movie. I love their friendship and banter, and this relationship is definitely one of the better aspects of the movie.

My major gripe is how underused Claire Forlani is. Why cast an actress like her when she is barely there? I even thought she wasn’t going to get a speaking role because of how invisible she felt. Tonally, the movie has more despair and harsh reality than it does beauty and light. The romance also feels transient, and while that is realistic with the nature of CF, you know you are watching something that is doomed from the start. Although I appreciate the authenticity the movie wishes to shove down my throat, I wish it gave me something to take away, a moment to save in the filmic moments that reel away in my mind.

Image via ComingSoon

For A Walk to Remember , I will always keep with me their performance in the musical together, him helping her satisfy her bucket list, her walk down the aisle to him and many other moments that maybe I will enumerate in another post since I am clearly obsessed. I hold to myself Hazel’s eulogy for Gus in The Fault in Our Stars , and even the ending image of the movie when she lies on the ground looking at the stars to say “Okay” is something striking enough to recall. Five Feet Apart leaves nothing behind, and that perhaps, is the saddest part.

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Natasha Alvar

Natasha is an English Literature teacher. She believes that stories are the essence of being human, and loves sharing this world with her students. One day, she hopes to break into the literary world with an offering of her own, but for now, she finds enjoyment in writing plays for her students as well as penning content for Moviebabble. You can follow her @litmysoul on Instagram, if you want.

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I do wanna see this film mainly because I’m curious to see a romance featuring characters not touching.

The not touching part was definitely interesting, especially since chemistry had to be built another way. I felt the movie could have been so much better with some changes.

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