The film everyone is talking about at the moment is Me Before You.

Based on JoJo Moyes’ popular book of the same name, the film is about 2 young people whose lives couldn’t be more different. Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) was a wealthy, successful young man living the high life in London whose life was forever changed after a motorcycle accident; Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) on the other hand comes from a working class family. She has never left her small town. These two would never have crossed paths except for that motorcycle accident which left Will a quadriplegic. Will needed a carer. Lou needed a job. What started as a business arrangement would forever change their personal lives.

That synopsis sounds like such a sappy romantic drama. After reading that I would usually run as far away from this film as possible, however in this instance I am going to say don’t run from it, run to it! I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I really enjoyed Me Before You.

One of the reasons this film is so good is because it’s not a Hollywood film – it’s an English one. What this means is that it’s not as corny or sappy as a Hollywood one would be (Hollywood just can’t help themselves!).

Don’t get me wrong – there’s love in this film, and it’s quite sad, but I don’t feel as manipulated as I would have if Hollywood had their hands on this.

The other reason why it works is because the author of the book, JoJo Moyes, also wrote the screenplay so she understood the tone and the themes of the story.

The casting was spot on. I would never have thought of Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke as romantic leads but after this film I have completely changed my mind. The tenderness they brought to their roles was nicely balanced out by the drama and wittiness.

They are supported by a great, and somewhat surprising, supporting cast – Steve Peacocke (Brax from Home and Away), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter franchise) and Jenna Coleman (Clara from Dr Who). You’ll fall in love with all of them!

As soon as this film gets mentioned the first sentence is you’ll need lots of tissues. While it’s true that there may be some ugly crying, there’s more to Me Before You than that. It will also have you smiling, marvelling at the scenery and most importantly it may get you motivated to, as corny as it sounds, go out, “live boldly; Live well; Live!”