Imagine being in love with someone and not being able to touch them. You can’t hold hands, hug or even kiss without the possibility of dying. That is what happens in this touching, heartfelt romance movie Five Feet Apart, and it’s an emotional rollercoaster.
The movie also takes you down memory lane by having former Disney channel stars like Cole Sprouse from “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” You also may recognize Sprouse from the popular TV show on The CW, “Riverdale,” where he plays the loveable character Jughead. Another former Disney star you may recognize is Moises Arias, who you might remember as Rico Suave from Hannah Montana. He hasn’t done much since Hannah Montana, but has starred in other films over the years.
The movie introduces seventeen-year-old Stella Grant, played by Haley Lu Richardson, a hospital patient who has cystic fibrosis, or CF, and lives her life as a routine oriented person. Stella is the type of person that sticks to a daily schedule and can’t even take her medication without organizing her “med cart.” Things start to change when Will Newman, a new patient who has the same illness as Stella, moves in the hospital.
Cole Sprouse plays this charming new patient Will, but he’s described as being the complete opposite of Stella, so he could care less about doing any of his treatments. There is an instant attraction between them when they first meet, however, one of the rules for these two who both have CF is that they must remain six feet apart when around each other. One day, Stella proposes that since CF has taken so much from them already that they take something back. One foot. Instead of six feet, five feet apart.
I liked the message behind this movie because it taught me to not take my ability to hug or comfort someone with physical touch for granted. Refraining from wanting to hug or to comfort each other in a physical way was a struggle for Will and Stella and I think their love story shows how important physical touch is in relationships. Physical touch shows that we care. Overall, the movie was great and I would recommend it for those who are fans of Nicholas Sparks or those who loved reading “The Fault in our Stars.” Going in to watch this movie, I was expecting it to be like a Nicholas Sparks movie, but it was different because the distance between the characters in the movie symbolizes the aspects of the characters relationship, which you never see in Nicholas Sparks movies.
I rate this movie a four out of five stars because it stood out from all of the other romance or “chick flick” movies that I have ever seen. It was different by having its own twist on what it truly means to love someone and how it can be shown through our words and actions. When you go see this movie, bring a box of kleenex and a friend’s shoulder to cry on. This whirlwind, forbidden hospital romance will make you cry.
Photo by CBS Films