Review: Everything, Everything

BY SAVANNAH KEYSER

Madeline Whittier is a young girl who has never had the pleasure of stepping outside her home. She has SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency), which is a condition that causes the body to be unable to fight off any bacteria or virus. Because of this, Maddy’s mother had a special house built, which Maddy is not allowed to leave, so she could be safe from harm in a sterilized, controlled environment.

Maddy spends her days creating art, building models, reading books and writing reviews. This all changes when she sees a new face from her window. A new boy moves in next door, and suddenly her life changes.

Maddy and this boy have an exchange from their windows in which he, Olly, gives Maddy his phone number. They start to text constantly. Eventually Maddy has to tell him the truth about her: that she’s sick and she can’t ever be with him.

As the movie progresses, Maddy decides to risk her life (or so she thinks) to take a trip with her beloved. The issue is that she lies to Olly and tells him that she is no longer sick because she doesn’t want him to feel like he is putting her in danger. This lie put herself, and Olly, at great risk.

During this trip, she contracts a virus and is sent to the hospital. This is what eventually leads Maddy finding out that she does not in fact have SCID and that her mother has been lying to her for her whole life.

“Everything, Everything” was shot in a very beautiful way. The cinematography was fantastic. Other than that, the movie was a cheesy love story about a girl who has never had any real friends or relationships with anyone but her mother and her nurse, and immediately falls in love with the first boy she ever meets.

The acting in this movie was less than impressive. The actors definitely did their best to portray the characters and their personalities, but the way the characters were written, the personalities were flat and didn’t give the actors much to work with. Both of the main characters were one-dimensional–that one dimension being hopelessly in love. Although there were many opportunities to build their character, such as Olly’s problems with his family or Maddy and her many hobbies, the writers didn’t take the chances.

It is a very unrealistic portrayal of the disease, as people who actually do have SCID do not have to stay cooped up inside a sterile environment. It is also very unrealistic and insulting towards women. This movie made it seem like girls will do anything for a boy and for love and that they would even risk their lives just to be with their boyfriend, even if they don’t know them very well.

It was also quite bothersome that this whole story was based on a lie. The fact that Maddy’s mother was so scared of losing her daughter that she told her daughter that she is terminally ill is very manipulative. It was really frustrating to find out this information because it felt like the whole situation could have been avoided and that the movie was now pointless.

All in all, “Everything, Everything” is a love story about a girl who decided to throw her life away for a boy she just met and a mother who never wants her daughter to leave her sight.

Photo courtesy of Everything, Everything