'All My Life' Review
PG-13: Brief language
Runtime: 1 Hr and 31 Minutes
Production Company: Broken Road Productions
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Marc Meyers
Writer: Todd Rosenberg
Cast: Jessica Rothe, Harry Shum Jr., Kyle Allen, Chrissie Fit, Jay Pharoah, Marielle Scott, Keala Settle
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Based on the powerful true love story that inspired an entire nation, All My Life follows the journey of an engaged couple who make the difficult decision to accelerate their wedding in the wake of a devastating discovery.
Jessica Rothe and Harry Shum Jr. are cute. I don’t think they lack onscreen chemistry; the paper-thin script just doesn’t provide them with anything even remotely intimate or outside the realm of cliches of the genre. They make the most out of the little material they’re given with their adorable wit and charm. I gotta give a backhanded compliment to the casting director more so than the cast. Rothe and Shum Jr. don’t even resemble the real-life figures they’re based on. When the film ends on real footage from the real couple’s wedding, it makes you question how they got away with the casting choices in the first place. However, the leads are so damn attractive and they’re really good performers. It’s refreshing to see Harry Shum Jr. in a leading role, projecting that same charm and talent that I remember from his days on Glee as Mike Chang (and no, I’ve never seen Shadowhunters). There’s a scene where Sol sings Jen “their song” in a huge romantic gesture in the park before he proposes and hearing Shum Jr. sing again felt like home. He still got it.
No disrespect to the real Jennifer Carter and Sol Chau, but I’d be mad as hell if Hollywood turned my tragic love story into a watered-down romantic movie told in a formulaic, redundant fashion. Despite the leads being as talented and as hot as they are, there is no genuine romantic chemistry whatsoever due to the script feeling like it was written by a bot. All My Life has good intentions, but it dives head-first into a pool of romantic cliches and drenches itself in it for 90 minutes straight.
While I appreciate the movie for having a relatively short running time, as opposed to most romantic dramas of this nature, it jumps around from one predictable romantic drama plot to the next. You don’t get any sense of originality or uniqueness with this story. It’s so unbearably squeaky-clean that it resembles more of a Hallmark movie than a studio drama. Jennifer and Sol are portrayed to be so inseparable that they literally don’t have any individuality as characters outside of being each other’s partner. They’re a one-dimensional millennial couple who vibe well off each other with constant witty and romantic dialogue.
All the emotional beats and plot points can be tracked down with one sniff, even if they’re a mile away. I don’t know how faithful this film is to the real subjects’ love story, but every possible cliched trope is present, ranging from the “girlfriend convincing the boyfriend to follow his dreams because he’s unhappy at his dead-end job” to the “cute silly dancing moments” to the “streak of unbothered happiness before the news of Sol getting diagnosed with liver cancer” and, my personal favorite, “the emotionally riveting argument about how they’re going to fight cancer together.” I’m sorry, but audiences have seen way too many romantic dramas centered on cancer and there’s not much left to tell. All My Life plays directly for a YA audience but the demographic has a variety of better alternatives to choose from.
All My Life is a bland, soulless romantic drama that lacks flavor and any form of an identity to do justice to the real subjects’ story. At best, it’s short, forgettable, and entertaining for the sole fact that it has talented, attractive leads who do their best with what little they’re given.
