Five Feet Apart

Last night I went to an advance screening of Five Feet Apart and while I do love a good adaptation of a YA novel, if I am honest, the main reason I wanted to see this movie was Cole Sprouse.  When I was watching the trailer I thought the brooding love interest was really cute and when the names of the actors were revealed at the end I was really surprised to see Cole Sprouse.  Wasn't he one of the twins from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody?  I watched many episodes of that show with Tashena when she was a little girl and, apparently, the twins are all grown up!  Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is a cystic fibrosis patient in the hospital trying to get healthy enough for a lung transplant and she is obsessed with following her extensive daily regimen of drugs and treatments.  Will Newman (Sprouse), another cystic fibrosis patient in the hospital for a drug trial to combat a serious infection that makes him ineligible for a lung transplant, has a fatalistic view of his illness and is very lackadaisical about following his regimen.  Even though they are forced to to stay six feet apart to prevent cross-infection, they manage to elude their ever vigilant nurse Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and eventually develop feelings for each other.  She pushes him to follow his daily regimen and he helps her to loosen up (her act of rebellion is to allow him to come one foot closer to her).  Richardson and Sprouse give touching performances and have lots of chemistry together, which is quite the accomplishment because their characters cannot touch each other, and their love story is very poignant.  However, while most movies about doomed relationships between teens with terminal illnesses can't help but be emotionally manipulative, the melodramatic plot twist at the end of this movie is incredibly contrived and far-fetched.  I did really enjoy this movie (and I had a tear in my eye during some of the more emotional scenes) but the ending kept it from being great.  I suspect teenagers will absolutely love it!