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Take a breath. Take a deep breath. Those of us who have the luxury of taking breathing for granted get to choose when we think about drawing air into our lungs—to center our thoughts, to relax, to sing, to blow up a balloon, to run. For people with lung diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF), every breath is a struggle, a triumph, and a painful reminder that it may be the last.

Just a few decades ago, the life expectancy for those born with CF was 10. So it is only recently that people like the teenagers with CF in “Five Feet Apart” lived long enough to truly understand their disease and their limitations.

Stella (a radiant Haley Lu Richardson ) checks into the hospital for help with an infection as though it is her second home. The medical staff are all old friends, especially Barb ( Kimberly Hebert Gregory ), a compassionate nurse. Stella knows all the routines and she knows what to bring for comfort, including her stuffed panda, the laptop she uses for her vlog updates about living with CF, and the pictures from her bedroom wall.

Stella knows that her best case scenario, a lung transplant, may only work for five years, but in the CF medical relay race, the best case scenario is always just to last long enough for better treatment to be invented.

In the meantime, Stella knows that her best coping mechanisms are feeling in control of her “regimen” of care, organizing the meds cart, taking her pills with chocolate pudding, and visiting the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Her best friend Poe ( Moises Arias ) is back in the hospital, too. And so is Will ( Cole Sprouse ) another teenage CF patient, there to receive an experimental drug. While Stella is ultra, even hyper-cooperative in her treatment, hoping to be able to get the lung transplant, Will is a cynic and a rebel, in part because his prognosis is not as hopeful. Even if the medication is successful, the B-cepacia infection has made him ineligible for a transplant. Stella presses him to keep up with his regimen, and he agrees if she will let him draw her.

Love stories always have to have a reason to keep the couple apart and in this case, that means literally apart. Because of their vulnerability to infection, CF patients have to stay at least six feet from each other. They are like Romeo and Juliet if the Montagues were bacteria and the Capulets were a set of new lungs.

Latex gloves, no touching, and six feet between them at all times. As Stella falls for Will she says, “After all CF has taken from me, I don’t mind stealing one foot back.” And so they have a date, still within the walls of the hospital (apparently hospitals have swimming pools) using a five-foot pool cue to measure their distance. And then, because they are teenagers, they take some very big risks.

It is tempting to dismiss this story as “sick-lit” but director Justin Baldoni balances the compelling specifics of CF with the larger questions we all face about creating meaning in a world of uncertainty and loss. And he does it with two gifted and appealing young stars, especially Richardson, whose exquisitely expressive face shows us every hope, fear, hesitation, regret, and longing Stella is feeling.

Baldoni clearly learned a great deal from his “My Last Days” television series documenting the lives of terminally ill people, including a teenager with CF, and he shows sensitivity and insight in exploring these issues within a fictional story. He makes the most of the way he uses the hospital setting, the atrium lobby with its drab, sturdy institutional furniture. As Stella and Will fall in love, it seems warmed by their tenderness and excitement.

Even healthy young people can die. Illness can devastate families, emotionally and financially. It is scary to love someone and it can be even scarier to let someone love you, especially when you are embarrassed by your scars. We all try to find a way to feel in control of something, whether it is by lining up pill boxes on a meds cart and doing what we are told or by putting an “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” sign on a hospital door and ignoring good advice. “We don’t have time for delicacy,” one character says, in their case because they may not live a “normal” lifespan, but in reality, films like this remind us we could all do better at making sure we get the most from the time we have.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Five Feet Apart (2019)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language and suggestive material.

116 minutes

Cole Sprouse as Will

Haley Lu Richardson as Stella

Moisés Arias as Poe

Kimberly Hebert Gregory as Nurse Barb

Parminder Nagra as Dr. Noor Hamid

Claire Forlani as Meredith

Justin Baldoni
Mikki Daughtry
Tobias Iaconis

Cinematographer

Frank G. DeMarco
Angela M. Catanzaro
Brian Tyler
Breton Vivian

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Five feet apart, common sense media reviewers.

Strong acting saves predictable, sentimental love story.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Don't take life for granted. Grab love and joy whe

Although cystic fibrosis community is split on som

A young man looks like he's perched precariously o

Lots of yearning looks and one scene in which Stel

Occasional use of strong language, including one "

The AfflowVest, a branded mobile mechanical oscill

Positive Messages

Don't take life for granted. Grab love and joy wherever you can find them, and treasure those closest to you, because you don't know when death will come calling. Strong element of "if you love someone, set them free." Themes also include perseverance, empathy.

Positive Role Models

Although cystic fibrosis community is split on some aspects of movie, there's agreement that this is one of the few movies to even attempt to represent what it's like for teens living with CF (or something other than cancer). Stella, who also has OCD, is diligent about her treatment schedule, craves order. She's caring, loving to her parents and close friends. Will is edgier and has less discipline, but he's artistic and loving and wants to live each day to its fullest. Poe is a caring, selfless friend. The nurses are patient, dedicated, empathetic.

Violence & Scariness

A young man looks like he's perched precariously on a hospital roof and might fall. (Potential spoiler alerts ahead.) A young character who dies of cystic fibrosis is briefly shown coding, then dead on the floor. A character who looks to have died is saved via CPR. Sad conversations about loved ones who've died (and how they died).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Lots of yearning looks and one scene in which Stella touches her chest sensually in front of Will after they both declare they could touch each other. They also undress down to their underwear and jump into the hospital pool together but don't touch purposely. They hold gloved hands. A couple of cases of asexual accidental touches, both in times of stress or emergency.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional use of strong language, including one "f---ing," plus "bitch" and a couple uses of "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "hell," "goddamn," "boobs," "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The AfflowVest, a branded mobile mechanical oscillation therapy device used by CF and other chronically ill pulmonary patients, is prominently featured.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Five Feet Apart is based on the best-selling YA novel about Will ( Cole Sprouse ) and Stella ( Haley Lu Richardson ), two hospitalized 17-year-olds with cystic fibrosis (CF) who fall in love. Since the guideline for CF patients is that they should stay a minimum of six feet apart from each other due to the danger of cross-infection, the title refers to the one foot the pair "take back" to be a tiny bit closer as their love story develops. Language isn't frequent but includes a use of "f---ing," plus "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," etc., and a few references to sex (or lack thereof). Will and Stella aren't supposed to touch, much less kiss (saliva exchange would be deadly, as one of them has a serious bacterial infection), so there's no sex, although they do undress down to their underwear in one romantic scene. The movie, which had a CF consultant, has been divisive within the CF community; some members are happy to see more awareness for the disease, which affects about 30,000 in the U.S., and others worry that the movie romanticizes the illness or misleads able-bodied audiences. Ultimately, the story promotes treasuring those closest to you and has themes of perseverance and empathy. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (34)
Kids say (173)

Based on 34 parent reviews

Expert review is missing a lot of details about sex.

Parents be warned, sex is the major talking point of this movie., what's the story.

FIVE FEET APART is one of a growing number of YA book-to-screen adaptations about teens who fall in love under life-and-death circumstances. Stella ( Haley Lu Richardson ) is a kind, rule-following 17-year-old cystic fibrosis (CF) patient who's back in the hospital for a "tune up" when she meets rule- breaking 17-year-old Will ( Cole Sprouse ), who also has CF and is in the hospital. CF patients are supposed to stay at least six feet apart from one another to avoid contagious infections that could worsen their already precarious condition. Stella is patiently awaiting a lung transplant, while Will, who's tested positive for a dangerous bacteria called B. cepacia , can barely remember to take his meds. The two begin a tentative friendship and flirtation that eventually (and predictably) leads to romance. Stella helps Will be more disciplined with his treatments, and he helps her learn to seize the day. But the seemingly insurmountable question remains: Can two people who can't touch really be together?

Is It Any Good?

This love story requires some suspension of disbelief, but its charming stars and and tear-jerking romance will appeal to fans of The Fault in Our Stars . That doesn't mean audiences should expect as much heartbreak as in FiOS , but the "dying teenagers sharing an intense first love" is definitely a theme of Five Feet Apart , too. Richardson in particular is very talented, and she and Sprouse have just enough spark to make it work, although Stella and Will's romance isn't as swoon-worthy as Hazel Grace and Gus' or as adventurous as Maddy and Olly's . After all, Stella and Will can not, must not touch, so their relationship is limited to conversations and endless longing looks. For some inexplicable reason, their parents are rarely on the hospital floor (in sharp contrast to similar films in which parents sit vigil day after day), and the teens interact mostly with kind, maternal Nurse Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory). And Moises Arias stands out as Poe, Stella's hospital bestie and fellow CF patient. Poe supports the idea of Stella, who apparently also has OCD, "dating" Will, even though it puts her at great risk of losing her transplant eligibility.

Because the movie is almost wholly set in the hospital, the plot sometimes feels slow and predictable, and the teens' level of access to all parts of the facility seem far-fetched, considering that such a large hospital would definitely have more attentive security. And the fact that the teens somehow throw a Pinterest-level dinner party is flat-out unbelievable (even with the reason provided). Still, the story will undeniably tug at viewers' heartstrings, and given Sprouse's popularity (thanks to Riverdale ), there's surely an eager fan base ready to see him fall in love, no matter how sad the circumstances.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what Five Feet Apart teaches viewers about cystic fibrosis. Do you know more about the illness than you did before you saw the movie?

The movie has been somewhat controversial within the CF community, even though there was a CF consultant on the film. Do you think movies need to represent every aspect of an illness or disability accurately? Is there value in creating awareness even if a portrayal isn't 100% realistic?

Which characters are role models ? Why? How does the story show the importance of empathy and perseverance ?

If you've read the book, how does the movie compare? Which do you like better? Why?

Why do you think people like stories about sick teens so much?

Movie Details

In theaters : March 15, 2019
On DVD or streaming : June 11, 2019
Cast : Haley Lu Richardson , Cole Sprouse , Claire Forlani
Director : Justin Baldoni
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Lionsgate
Genre : Romance
Topics : Book Characters , Friendship
Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance
Run time : 116 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : thematic elements, language and suggestive material
Last updated : March 7, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Five Feet Apart Reviews

But that ending. It doesn’t quite kill the good that comes before it, but it comes mighty close.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 20, 2022

Five Feet Apart suffers from the same clichés as most of the decade’s YA romantic dramas while having to stomach the manipulation of trivializing an illness that can be terminal.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 18, 2022

Five Feet Apart uses illness as a plot device to heighten emotions rather than simply allowing compelling characters to tell their own stories.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 26, 2021

No one in the project can overcome the sick-flick genre's cliches...

Full Review | Jul 22, 2021

Although I appreciate the authenticity the movie wishes to shove down my throat, I wish it gave me something to take away, a moment to save in the filmic moments that reel away in my mind.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Mar 7, 2021

This young-adult tear-jerker is bogged down by cliche and a lack of vision, buoyed only by a fresh performance from lead actress Haley Lu Richardson and an honest conversation about the loneliness of disease.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 28, 2021

The predictability of its plot and sweet but adolescent love story may infect the older audience members with chronic eye roll syndrome.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2021

There's a sincerity here that undoes many of its excesses, thanks largely to the grounded chemistry of its leads.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 10, 2020

The film never really delivers unless you're under 13 years old due to the tone of artificiality overlaying the entire story.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Nov 14, 2020

I blame the writing for this colossal miscalculation, but I'll forever associate one of the most gifted young actors working today with this schmaltzy nonsense; she and the other actors raise the material to a degree, but that's about as good as it gets.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 21, 2020

Commendably highlights the issues of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers, you'll learn a thing or two about this illness as well as be sappily charmed.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 13, 2020

I hated this movie.

Full Review | May 21, 2020

It wasn't an enjoyable watch.

Ask any high school teacher - or, for that matter, any high schooler - and they'll tell you the surest way to get two teenagers to fall in love is to tell them they can't see each other.

Full Review | Nov 22, 2019

There's a million books like this and a million movies like this, where people are beautiful -- but they're sick!

Full Review | Sep 23, 2019

Despite its best efforts including those from Haley Lu Richardson with a brilliant performance, the film inevitably begins to sink. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 16, 2019

Ultimately, Five Feet Apart was peak emotional manipulation...but, like, it worked.

Full Review | Jul 29, 2019

If a little too much of the dialogue sounds like a teenage inspirational instagram post, then at least the film knows its target audience

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 19, 2019

There are parts that are very Hallmark movie and schmaltzy. And yet you do end up being swept along with the emotions in it because the acting is so note-perfect.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 6, 2019

If you're expecting anything remotely deep or intelligent, you best stay clear as this sick-lit, doomed romancer delights in the bittersweet to the point of overindulgence

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 1, 2019

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‘Five Feet Apart’ Review: Ailing Teenagers Live Dangerously for Love

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By Ben Kenigsberg

March 14, 2019

In “Five Feet Apart,” Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) is a teenager with cystic fibrosis. Will (Cole Sprouse), a newcomer to the hospital where she resides, also has the disease and is undergoing a drug trial for an antibiotic-resistant infection . They don’t mesh, at first. She is obsessive-compulsive and effusive; she dutifully takes her meds and keeps a YouTube diary about her life. He is a brooding artist and rule-breaker convinced that they are breathing borrowed air.

Because of the risk of cross-infection , they must stay six feet apart. Five feet, as measured by the pool cue they carry between them, will be their eventual concession to love and living dangerously.

Promoted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as an awareness tool , “Five Feet Apart” is better made than a synopsis suggests. To maintain the illusion of intimacy, the director, Justin Baldoni, plays tricks with focal lengths, often framing Richardson and Sprouse so that they appear close together before cutting to a wide shot that shows them far apart. Richardson, previously wonderful with good material ( “Columbus,” “Support the Girls” ), here cements her genius status by finding depths beyond the contrived screenplay.

The cast’s schlock redemption efforts only go so far in a story that stacks the deck with a tragedy in Stella’s family and a series of increasingly implausible rendezvous between Stella and Will. You can set your watch to what happens to Stella’s best friend (Moises Arias), also a patient, and the last act is a supernova of shamelessness. But even then, this weepie is tough to resist entirely.

Rated PG-13 for flagrant violations of doctor’s orders. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes.

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‘five feet apart’: film review.

Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse are lovers with cystic fibrosis in Justin Baldoni’s hospital-set teen romance, 'Five Feet Apart.'

By Caryn James

Caryn James

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It’s almost a rite of passage for young Hollywood stars to do their sick-teens-in-love film before they age out of the genre ( The Fault in Our Stars or Everything, Everything ). Haley Lu Richardson, so good in Columbus and Support the Girls , and Cole Sprouse, of Riverdale , take a crack at it in Five Feet Apart, about two hospital patients with cystic fibrosis. What starts as a promising film that takes the disease seriously and might even raise awareness about its challenges quickly turns into a romantic melodrama that checks all the familiar boxes. There are the mismatched personalities who somehow tumble into love, plus the will-they-or-won’t-they questions about sex and death. There are conveniently almost-absent parents, and for good measure a gay best friend. But there is not a believable spark between this Romeo and Juliet.

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Five Feet Apart, 2019. Promotional still from Vertigo Releasing

Five Feet Apart review – sickly teen romance mopes to morbid conclusion

A pair of lovestruck hospital patients trade love letters and latex gloves in cinema’s latest exercise in mawkishness

I t’s been nearly 50 years since Love Story showed that people will pay good money to watch pretty youngsters dying slowly , and five since The Fault in Our Stars revived this morbid subgenre with notable commercial success. Justin Baldoni’s middling derivative courts viewer sympathies with a somewhat novel conceit, taking place almost exclusively within the hospital where perky vlogger and cystic fibrosis patient Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) has been confined as part of a drug trial. Dragging her oxygen line around intensive care, she crosses paths with a fellow trialist, floppy-haired hunk Will (Cole Sprouse), and a wicked new twist is added to an old meet-cute: they can’t get too close, lest they exchange potentially lethal lungfuls of bacteria. Here are two kids who could kill with a kiss.

It’s a weird hook, granted, dependent on the leads hawking up more phlegm than has ever been set before us in the course of an aspirant date movie. Putting the onus on characters who’ve been prescribed bedrest leaves these two hours a touch shuffling dramatically: you sense Baldoni killing a lot of time before he can send on the Reaper for his contracted cameo. Regular musical montages find someone or other moping in the cafeteria while something like the Fray tinkles on the soundtrack; Stella schools her devil-may-care beau via YouTube in the correct application of latex gloves. Love letters are secreted in balloons Will has to pop, filling the hospital corridors with alarming bangs. (The issue of who’s paying for this extended sleepover is, of course, never addressed.)

Trading shamelessly on any weakness for medical soap, Baldoni returns the lamentably underemployed Parminder Nagra to the doctor’s scrubs she once wore on ER, while allowing Richardson – whose smart choices were better showcased in Columbus – to lend certain moments an apple-cheeked vivacity. Yet she surely realises, as Fault’s Shailene Woodley did before her, that this is the kind of marshmallow martyrdom that has to be briskly worked through before they let you at the grownup scripts. The airlessness of the single setting – a controlled environment allowing teens to approach mortality from safe distance – is only dispelled late on, with some daffily fateful business atop a frozen lake: in this case, love means pushing your luck.

The headline of this piece was changed on 25 March 2019.

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Review: ‘Five Feet Apart’ elevates the sick teen genre with a poignant love story

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The cystic fibrosis-themed romantic drama “Five Feet Apart” feels like a real evolution in the sick teen movie genre, because it’s actually a great movie that just happens to be about sick teens, and it doesn’t condescend or try to cheer up anyone. There are no bucket lists — just an authentic portrait that feels real and lived-in, anchored by a pair of excellent performances by Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse .

The story is a take on “Romeo and Juliet,” featuring a pair of young, doomed, star-crossed lovers carrying on a forbidden romance. Both Stella (Richardson) and Will (Sprouse) have cystic fibrosis, a chronic genetic respiratory disorder with a short life expectancy. Patients with CF have to maintain at least 6 feet of distance from each other to avoid dangerous cross-infection, a unique challenge for a pair of 17-year olds falling in love for the first time.

Director Justin Baldoni directed a short documentary about Claire Wineland, a young woman with cystic fibrosis who documented her life on YouTube, and she served as consultant on “Five Feet Apart” before she died in 2018. While the film is not based on her life, screenwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis have crafted a screenplay that captures the perspective she expressed online, blending a zest for life with gallows humor and an acceptance of death.

The script is a very Hollywood-ized teen romance , with some over-the-top moments to ramp up the stakes, yet the film remains grounded in the realities of the disease. Most importantly, “Five Feet Apart” has a real voice, and a point of view, and there’s no better actor than the ebullient Richardson to embody the attitude Wineland stood for. Richardson can do just about anything, and her performance in “Five Feet Apart” demonstrates a new depth to her range. She brings a knowing soulfulness to every aspect of Stella’s journey, from her grief and rage, to the way she reluctantly lets herself fall for Will. Sprouse, as well as Moises Arias, who plays her best friend, Poe, another patient, rise to her level. It’s especially satisfying to watch Sprouse transform from a snarky, too-cool-for-school CF patient to a young man who finally has hope and some skin in the game, if not for himself, then for her.

‘Riverdale’ heartthrob Cole Sprouse goes for leading man status in ‘Five Feet Apart’ »

Baldoni, best known as an actor, makes his feature directorial debut with “Five Feet Apart,” and it’s incredibly assured, deeply effective filmmaking. Set entirely in a hospital, he captures the sense of place — the culture, the people, the geography — and it never feels claustrophobic or stifling. Baldoni brings a rhythm to these drab, fluorescent-lit hallways, with pop songs driving the pace.

The 5-feet-apart rule (Stella “steals” a foot back) creates an inherently potent tension on screen, where something as simple as extending a hand might cause the audience to instinctively flinch. A scene at the hospital pool where Will and Stella have their first date is electric with energy, as the young lovers yearn for each other, the length of a pool cue keeping them at an achingly safe distance.

The poignant message of “Five Feet Apart” is never far as these characters attempt to experience all life has to offer while struggling to survive. Will loves to say, “It’s just life, it’ll be over before you know it.” While he delivers it with cynicism, it becomes a mantra that takes on new meaning every time it’s uttered. It’s life, and it will be over before we know it — why waste a second?

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

‘Five Feet Apart’

Rated: PG-13, for thematic elements, language and suggestive material

Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Playing: In general release

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‘Five Feet Apart’ review: Actors excel in beautifully authentic take on ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Movie review.

The cystic-fibrosis romantic drama “Five Feet Apart” feels like a real evolution in the sick-teen movie genre, because it’s actually a great movie that just happens to be about sick teens, and it doesn’t condescend to or try to cheer up anyone. There are no bucket lists — just an authentic portrait that feels real and lived-in, anchored by a pair of excellent performances by Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse.

Director Justin Baldoni directed a short documentary about Claire Wineland, a young woman with cystic fibrosis who documented her life on YouTube, and she served as consultant on “Five Feet Apart.” While the film is not based on her life, screenwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis have crafted a screenplay that captures the perspective she expressed online, blending a zest for life with gallows humor and an acceptance of death.

The script is a very Hollywood-ized teen romance, with some over-the-top moments to ramp up the stakes, yet the film remains grounded in the realities of the disease. Most importantly, “Five Feet Apart” has a real voice, and a point of view, and there’s no better actor than the ebullient Richardson to embody the attitude Wineland stood for. Richardson can do just about anything, and her performance in “Five Feet Apart” demonstrates a new depth to her range. She brings a knowing soulfulness to every aspect of Stella’s journey, from her grief and rage, to the way she reluctantly lets herself fall for Will. Sprouse, as well as Moises Arias, who plays her best friend, Poe, another patient, rise to her level. It’s especially satisfying to watch Sprouse transform from a snarky, too-cool-for-school CF patient to a young man who finally has hope and some skin in the game, if not for himself, then for her.

Baldoni, best known as an actor, makes his feature directorial debut with “Five Feet Apart,” and it’s incredibly assured, deeply effective filmmaking. Set entirely in a hospital, he captures the sense of place — the culture, the people, the geography — of the environment, and it never feels claustrophobic or stifling. Baldoni brings a rhythm to these drab, fluorescent-lit hallways, with pop songs driving the pace.

★★★ “Five Feet Apart,” with Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Claire Forlani. Directed by Justin Baldoni, from a screenplay by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. 116 minutes. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language and suggestive material. Opens March 15 at multiple theaters.

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DVD & Streaming

Five Feet Apart

Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

March 15, 2019
Haley Lu Richardson as Stella; Cole Sprouse as Will; Claire Forlani as Meredith; Moises Arias as Poe; Parminder Nagra as Dr. Noor Hamid; Gary Weeks as Tom; Kimberly Herbert Gregory as Nurse Barb; Emily Baldoni as Nurse; Sophia Bernard as Abby; Cynthia Evans as Erin

Home Release Date

June 11, 2019
Justin Baldoni

Distributor

Movie review.

“We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe.” That’s what Stella wants, more than anything in the world. Both of those things, in fact: to touch, to breathe. But both are very difficult for Stella.

Since she was a little girl, Stella has roamed the halls and visited countless rooms in St. Grace Regional Hospital. Born with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder, Stella is biding her time waiting for a lung transplant.

And like any normal teenager, she also wants to live her life—which has proven very difficult. Daily exercise, myriad medications and rigorous regimens fill Stella’s waking hours at the hospital. And if her routine wasn’t hard enough, she’s not allowed to touch other patients with cystic fibrosis if she wants to live.

It can be hard to stay positive. Which is why Stella has created her own YouTube channel, sharing the ups and downs of her disorder in an attempt to educate her viewers. But not everyone is as positive as Stella.

Will, a fellow patient at St. Grace who also has cystic fibrosis, isn’t really sold on the idea of taking his meds and following doctors’ orders. He’s of the mind that all that “junk” won’t do much but extend his suffering until he finally dies. That is, until he meets Stella.

Determined, organized and practical, Stella agrees to hang out with Will if he’ll follow the treatment schedule she plans for him. The only real requirement is that the two maintain their distance—five feet apart at all times. But what begins as an obligation turns into a deep love, one that’s fueled by hope—a hope that fights to just keep breathing.

Positive Elements

Throughout the film we see Stella, Will and another cystic fibrosis sufferer named Poe struggle to maintain positivity and hope as the disease ravages their bodies. Will, in particular, often feels that his medication and treatment are only prolonging the inevitable. But when he meets Stella, he finds a new source of strength and hope as she forces him to care for himself.

Stella begins helping Will with his daily medical regimen. She encourages him to take his medication, to do his exercises and to follow all the guidelines that have been set by his doctor. Will, in return, speaks life into Stella, affirming her beauty, intelligence and worth. He also teaches Stella how to relax and have fun. The two form an emotional bond, fall in love and learn to be vulnerable in some healthy ways.

Through the lives of Will, Stella and Poe, we learn what it means to forgive others and to accept forgiveness yourself. Stella tends to blame herself for the bad things that happen in her life; but her friends, and the medical staff around her, reassure her that there are things beyond her control that she simply isn’t responsible for.

We see the value in maintaining positivity and cherishing every moment with those we love, because no one is promised tomorrow. We also learn that human touch and intimacy are crucial to flourishing. Each of the characters learns to find hope and joy in hopeless, tragic situations as they practice loving one another well in word and deed. One girl in particular lives her life to the fullest and promises to “live big” because Stella can’t.

Spiritual Elements

Stella has a picture on her door which represents the mind, body and soul. She reads a book titled Life, Death & Immortality and tries to meditate daily.

Sexual Content

Will and Stella make it clear that they’d like to kiss and have sex. But because of their condition, they have to settle for holding hands. In one scene, Stella tells Will she’s a virgin and that she’s scared to show a man her scarred body. She takes off her dress in front of him (we see her bra and underwear) and he strips down to his boxers. After a long gaze, the two swim together.

Will lets his friends use his hospital room when he’s not there to have sex. We don’t see anything, but characters have multiple conversations and make jokes about enjoying sex, “using protection” and foreplay. Poe, Stella’s best friend, is openly gay. He talks about his sex life with multiple guys, loving his boyfriend and jokes about not liking “white boys.”

Although there is nothing sexual about the care that Stella and Will receive, we do see her scarred stomach as nurses clean her wounds. Similarly, Stella washes her hands in her bra and underwear. Stella wears a dress she deems “see through,” though only her bra straps are visible.

A group of young women discuss which type of bathing suits are “too trampy” or too modest. Another wears a cleavage-baring top. A couple is briefly shown kissing.

Violent Content

We hear that a teen girl breaks her neck and drowns while cliff diving. A young woman falls through ice and nearly drowns. A boy collapses on a hospital floor and dies. A guy performs CPR on a girl. A nurse admits to letting two cystic fibrosis patients break hospital rules, which eventually led to their death.

Will draws a sketch of a grim reaper. Will, Stella and Poe have discussions (and make jokes) about what it would be like to die from their disease.

Crude or Profane Language

God’s name is misused four times, once paired with “d–mit.” The f-word is heard twice and the s-word six times. Other profanity includes one or two uses each of “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—,” “d–mit” and “a–hole.” A guy jokingly calls a girl a “hoe.” A girl says “screw him.” A teen uses a crude hand gesture.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Teens drink champagne at a dinner party. Stella deals with the disorienting aftereffects of anesthesia following surgery.

Other Negative Elements

Will is a rulebreaker, one who has lost hope when it comes to his life and treatment. He generally doesn’t follow his daily care schedule, and he treats life with flippancy (though this changes by the end of the film).

Stella’s grieves her parents’ divorce and blames herself for the death of a close friend—all of which she unfairly attributes to her illness. She struggles with control issues, labels herself “clinically OCD” and has difficulty getting close to some people.

A guy makes a joke about using suppositories. A teen vomits and spits up mucus.

There’s a power in love and human connection. We all crave intimacy, even if we don’t know it. We desire to be known—not just for who we are on the outside, but for who we are within. As Stella says, “Life’s too short to waste a second.” So we must invest in our relationships on this earth while we have the chance.

Stella and Will fight for deep connection throughout the entire film. Often their fight is against a real, tangible fear as they strive to maintain hope while battling a disorder that promises a short life. We see the two of them, along with friends, family and medical staff, persist in difficult times, love in word and deed, and reach for joy.

But although their actions and attitudes are often altruistic and admirable, there are aspects of this film that are not. Conversations about physical intimacy (including some about same-sex relationships) turn up, as well as multiple jokes about premarital sex. Language can be harsh, especially the film’s two gratuitous f-words. We also listen in on a number of melancholy conversations about death and mortality; they’re honest discussions, to be sure, but grim nonetheless.

Five Feet Apart is both beautiful and hopeful, problematic and tragic—especially for younger viewers. Yes, there are a lot of positive themes here. But there are also elements that might have you keeping your own viewing distance.

Be sure to read our review of the book connected to this movie: Five Feet Apart .

Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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‘Five Feet Apart’ Film Review

The young-adult romantic drama gets more manipulative with every big swing studio have taken at the genre since A Fault in Your Stars. Having every moment in the teenager’s life be life or death, most of the time. This is meant literally. Hollywood goes back to this well over and over because of Fault ‘s 300-million-dollar worldwide box office. Which was nearly 40 times the film’s budget. There is so much money being thrown around the John Green’s and Rebecca Albertalli’s of the world. You would think an unknown YA novelist would show up on Shark Tank asking Mr. Wonderful to sponsor their new book. For every Love, Simon , the problem is that you get a big stinking bag of Everything, Everything . Having Haley Lu Richardson as the lead in your film can solve most of your problems. Unfortunately, she can’t cover up Five Feet Apart ’s cliche-filled script.

Richardson plays Stella. A 17-year-old patient is stricken with cystic fibrosis. She spends most of her time away from school, in a confined hospital room — in theory anyway. You see, like most residents on the floor, she seems to be given free rein to leave whenever they feel like it. While the medical staff then frequently berates them afterward for doing it. This is easily the least secure infection-control floor in the country.

They slip their masks off while waiting for an elevator. Or inside it. This makes me think there must be some very expensive and specialized germ-free, self-cleaning elevators. If that wasn’t enough, when Stella meets Will ( Riverdale ’s Cole Sprouse). The typical dreamy, rule-breaking teenager most girls fall for at the age of 17. They both slip off their masks. again. Even though cross-contamination for CF patients is much higher from developing different bugs in each other’s lungs. Although, if you look like these two, you might want to show off your money makers, no matter the consequences.

The film, though, is a movie and is meant for entertainment. Even if you can stomach the manipulation of romanticizing and even trivializing an illness that can be terminal to get you there. Using CF to show the power of love is an interesting tool. Allowing the viewer to watch hormonal teenagers fall in love through communication and mutual respect since they can’t touch, and always keep five feet apart by carrying each side of the same billiards stick (which is referencing a guideline from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on how to lower the risk of cross-infection of two CF patients).

The chemistry between the two leads is apparent. Despite the stereotypical role of Richardson’s Stella as a stick-to-the-rules uptight female. While Sprouse’s Will can be the carefree male who is just looking to live life. Better Call Saul ’s Kimberly Hebert Gregory is saddled with the Debbie-downer RN role of keeping these two apart, which is standard in the young-adult drama between star-crossed lovers (she is an RN trying to keep these two from dying, so she gets a pass). The script has nice moments. Though, nothing is nuanced. It also delves into the inevitable what I like to call the “Goose” character (Anthony Edwards’ character from Top Gun ). You sense immediately. The script is an exercise in predictability, as you know what will happen to them and when it’s going to happen.

Richardson is a head and shoulders stand-out compared to most of the cast and manages to make her character the only three-dimensional one in the group, raising the level of the material. The film has its moments, some nicely designed scenes (the one on the bridge, in particular) but has several others, including the climactic one at the end of the film, that will have you scratching your head and asking yourself, “Was that really the best time to bring that up?”

Actor Justin Baldoni’s directorial debut has so many typical clichés you can’t see past them, even if you want to argue the film is, at the very least, creating awareness of the issue. The other side will find the film trivializes the disease and depicts the medically dangerous behavior. This is not a documentary when you break it down. Anyone who takes this as scripture needs to blame their high school for sending them out into the world unprepared. This is the “Disney” version of the disease that is a mere device to make young girls cry, so mission accomplished.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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Five Feet Apart (2019) Review

THE FAULT IN OUR TEEN ROMANCE

It goes without saying that teen movies have become a dime a dozen in the Hollywood industry of filmmaking. While it’s most a subgenre of sorts (could be various film genres), teen movies have been around for some time, with some fan favorites being produced back in 80s like Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off just to name a few. Push more into the later 2000s era, Hollywood has started to cater to the more “millennial” generation, producing feature films that appeal to the current age of teenagers. Movies like Easy A , The Perks of Being a Wallflower , The Spectacular Now , The Edge of Seventeen , The Fault in Our Stars , Paper Towns , and many others have become increasingly steadfast in the current releases for each subsequent year that follows. While the gender has gone on into the more “fantastical” realms with its narrative and stories (see popular dystopian franchise series like The Hunger Games saga or The Maze Runner trilogy), Hollywood continues to produce teen drama feature films, including 2018 movies like Everything, Everything , Midnight Sun , and Love, Simon . Now, Lionsgate films (along with CBS Films) and director Justin Baloni presents the latest teen romance drama endeavor with the movie Five Feet Apart . Does this 2019 motion picture stand to make a differentiate itself from similar films or is it just another “run-of-the-mill” teen melodrama endeavor?

Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) suffers from cystic fibrosis (a genetic disorder that mostly affects a person’s lungs), returning to the hospital for a lengthy duration to receive medical treatment when her condition “flared” up. She’s made a home in the medical center, respecting the “six feet” distance rule, where patients are forced to keep their distance from other CF residents. Enter Will Newman (Cole Sprouse), a new arrival CF patient who’s undergoing a special clinical trial, who immediately takes shine to Stella’s presence in the hospital. While initially resistant to Will’s forward charm, she eventually warms up to the teenage artist, sharing a special bond of friendship as she helps him with his self-treatments and medicine during his stay. However, while the two can’t touch or even be close, a budding relationship ensues, with Stella confronting past memories and her current situation, while Will faces his own shortened mortality and the life he chooses to live.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Yes, I’ll admit…. I do like some teen dramas movie out there (both old and new ones). Growing up in the 90s, I saw plenty of 90s teen based driven movies, especially the ones towards the late 90s / early 00s era, including American Pie , She’s All That , 10 Things I Hate About You , A Walk to Remember , and several other ones. Of course, I also liked a lot of the teen movies from the 80s, but (to be honest) I actually didn’t see those ones until later (when I became more interested in watching movies). As for the new “millennial” movies, I do like to have them as well, but sometimes they can be a bit “hit or miss” to me. Of course, like I said above, some teen film endeavors have essentially worked (i.e. The Twilight saga, the Hunger Games saga, and standalone features li Ake The Fault in Our Stars or Love, Simon . In truth, teen movies can be difficult thing to pull off as sometimes they can be too “syrupy” in teen drama or too “unrealistic”. Of course, these movies are usually gear towards teenagers (a demographic between ages 13 to 18 roughly) and they can be (mostly the romance drama comedies ones) a bit too predictable and formulaic with plenty of well-trodden paths to follow from start to finish.

This brings me back to talking about the film Five Feet Apart , the latest YA / Teen Romance that portrays youthful teenagers fall in love in amongst the ill-fate disease that plagues or both of them. To be honest, I really don’t remember hearing about the movie online until I saw the movie trailer for it around November 2018 (I saw it when I went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ). Judging from the trailer, my first opinion about this movie was that it was gonna be just another melodramatic teen / YA endeavor that I’ve seeing plenty of times over the past several years in other feature films. The cast (i.e. the film’s two leads) I do like from their past projects, which did interest me, but it wasn’t something I was fully excited to see. However, as I continue to “broaden” my movie horizons, I went to go see the movie during its opening weekend, hoping the feature would be produce something “different” (again…hoping) from what I’ve seeing in the past. So…what did I think of it? Well, despite the film’s noblest intentions of making a wholesome story, Five Feet Apart does falter and gets bogged down with generic / formulaic teen romance syrup drama. The movie is not a complete disappointment, but it never reaches the standards of what it aspires to be.

Five Feet Apart is directed by Justin Baloni, who has done previous actor roles in projects like Jane the Virgin and The Bold and the Beautiful as well as directing several TV movie documentaries like My Last Days and Rebel with a Cause: The Sam Simon Story . Thus, Baloni makes his directorial debut (as a feature film director) with this particular movie; making Five Feet Apart his most ambitious project to date. To his credit, Baloni does succeed in accomplishing a somewhat decent job in crafting a motion picture out of a narrative such as this (even though its derivate to other similar movies that have come before) and does a fairly good job in tackling a project on this scale (i.e. a small-scale personal story rather than massively scale blockbuster endeavor). Baloni takes the standard aspects and nuances of the classic teen cinematic arena of filmmaking and presenting them in this feature film; focusing its narrative on the characters of Stella and Will and their “day to day” lives of living in the hospital and how they cope with their ill-fated disease (physically and mentality). Moreover, Baloni certainly does help explain (or rather shedding light) on the condition of CF (i.e. cystic fibrosis) and how fragile a person’s life is when the disease is contracted. The whole “six feet apart” rule is actually quite interesting as well as all their various treatments that Stella and Will undergo. It’s also interesting to see how both characters come to terms with their lives. Yes, both follow the predictable nature of youthful teens falling love, but the characters are both more mature like individuals, making adult decisions for their treatments and coming to terms with their inevitable end (i.e. the finality of their lives). It may be just overly dramatic at some points, but its something worth noting in tale like this. Essentially, Baldoni makes the story work, proceeding to tell a gentle tale that focuses on the blossoming “young love” relationship of two people and horrible burden that must live.

In terms of technical presentation, Five Feet Apart looks and feel like something appropriate for a teen romance drama endeavor. Overall, the movie isn’t really something extraordinary of scope and scale, but a narrative like this shouldn’t be large and expansive. Thus, the overall presentation of the feature keeps majority of the film’s setting / backdrop minimal as we (the viewers) focus on the characters that populate the world. That being said, the efforts made by Tony Fanning (production designs), Bradford Johnson (set decorations), and Rachel Sage Kunin (costume designs) are all quite good for this specific film genre endeavor as well as a few cinematography shots from Frank G. DeMarco and the film’s gently score by Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian. Additionally, the movie does have the mellow / somber tone of teen music soundtrack selection of which usually do accompany teen-based motion pictures. Most of them are gentle and pleasant to listen to whenever they play (mostly to help sequences of emotional drama), but most of them feel exactly the same and kind of run together (as if they’re doing by the same one or two artists).

The film’s script, which was penned by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, does contribute to that factor, painting a very “teen based” centric drama vibe throughout the entire feature. Of course, that’s the very nature of the film, so it can be overlooked to some degree. That being said, however, the script is a little flimsy on how it handles certain aspects and narrative nuances. A perfect example of this is the personal relationships that both characters Stella and Will have with their parents. To be quite honest, their parents are barely in the movie and one who think they (as parents to these teens) would play a more instrumental part of the story. However, there barely in it and lets a lot to be desired in that aspect. Another goofy / silly aspect is how Stella gets involved with Will’s treatment. It seems very convenient and doesn’t feel organic…. just a plot device for her to get close to him. There’s also plenty of somewhat eye-rolling moments of melodrama of teen angst. Again, I was expecting this from the movie, but it was bit too much and felt too theatrically blah (i.e. too syrupy).

Perhaps the greatest strength that movie has to offer is in the combine acting talents of the film’s central leads of Stella Grant and Will Newman, who are played by actress Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse. Of the two, Richardson, known for her roles in The Edge of Seventeen , Spilt , and Operation Finale , does carry a lot of the film’s emotional weight on her shoulders and do so with enough theatrical dramatics to make us (the viewer) sympathetic her plights over her CF condition and her affect towards Will. Likewise, Sprouse, known for his roles in Riverdale , Friends , and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody , does a great job in selling the more brooding / rebellious youth of the pair, sharing moments of levity and heartfelt dramatic moments when a scene calls for them. Together, both Richardson and Sprouse have a likeable quality to both of their characters (always rooting for them through their trials and tribulations throughout) and do have a rather good on-screen chemistry with each other, which certainly does help sell their teenage love for one another effectively. It’s nothing remarkable or electrifying, but it definitely carries the film (emotionally) and is definitely better than most I’ve seeing in past Teen / YA romance endeavors.

Of the supporting cast, the only two the truly do shine (or at least make a lasting impression on the movie) are the characters of Poe (Stella’s gay friend at the hospital who also has CF as well) and Barb (one of the nurses that works at the hospital and oversees many of the CF patients). Played by Moises Arias ( Hannah Montana and Ender’s Game ) and Kimberly Herbert Gregory ( Vice Principals and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World ), these two characters definitely are solid supporting characters that help bolster the character builds of both Stella and Will in the movie and definitely play their respective parts in the feature’s narrative. Thus, both Arias and Gregory did respectable jobs in their roles as Poe and Nurse Barb.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast of characters in the movie, including actress Parminder Nagra ( Bend it Like Beckham and The Blacklist ) as Dr. Hamid, actress Claire Forlani ( Meet Joe Black and Mallrats ) as Will’s mom Meredith Newman, actress Trina LaFargue ( Queen Sugar and Claws ) as Mya, actress Ariana Guerra ( Candy Jar and Dumplin’ ) as Hope, actress Cecilia Leal ( Mr. Mercedes and Cloak & Dagger ) as Camila, actor Brett Austin Johnson ( Swamp Murders ) as Jason, actress Cynthia Evans ( High Rise and Tales ) as Stella’s mom Erin Grant, and Greg Weeks ( Instant Family and Parks and Recreation ) as Stella’s dad Tom Grant, are all very weak characters in the movie. I’m not saying that these particular roles are poorly acted (all these actors and actresses give solid performances in their respective roles), but the movie never allows these characters to flourish or expand upon beyond their initial introduction, which (as I mentioned above) is a disappointing, especially since several of these characters should’ve been more developed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The young tragic love of Stella Grant and Will Newman comes together during their hospital stay for their CF treatment in the movie Five Feet Apart. Director Justin Baloni’s directorial theatrical debut sees the classic story of young teen romance and makes it another carnation of those narrative; giving those who have cystic fibrosis a cinematic teen soapy love story to call their own. While the film’s content is poignant and respectful and two leads do a great job in selling their relationship (and well-acted to boot), majority of the feature does feel completely predictable and formulaic; becoming to syrupy and clichés (along with a problematic third act and some perplexing / flat supporting characters) to discern from similar movies out there. Personally, I thought this movie was just okay. I mean I thought the story cute and tender (for a teen romance arena), but I thought it was too generic and too much melodrama syrupy. Thus, my recommendation would be an “iffy choice”, for those who have a special affinity to these types of movies will like it, but everyone else might think its bland and too over-the-top teenager dramatics. In the end, Five Feet Apart , despite its strong performance from both Richardson and Sprouse as well as a gentle story of love and life, falls short of establishing itself in the teen / YA film genre. Just another youthful tragic love that feels too derivate to The Fault in Our Stars .

3.2 Out of 5 (Iffy Choice)

Released on: march 15th, 2019, reviewed on: april 1st, 2019.

Five Feet Apart is 112 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language, and suggestive material

Screen Rant

Five feet apart review: the fault in our ya romances, five feet apart is a well-acted ya romance and provides some welcome representation, but eventually finds itself bogged down in shlocky melodrama..

Given its premise (two teenagers dealing with a life-threatening condition fall in love), it's near-impossible and not at all unfair to compare Five Feet Apart to the YA hit The Fault in Our Stars . Both are stories about young people who know that they're living on borrowed time and how that informs their views on romance and the future. In Five Feet Apart 's case, however, it's also shining a light on cystic fibrosis and what daily life is like for those who have the genetic disorder. As noble as the film's intentions are though, that doesn't mean it gets a free pass on using cheap storytelling tricks. Five Feet Apart is a well-acted YA romance and provides some welcome representation, but eventually finds itself bogged down in shlocky melodrama.

The film wastes little time before introducing its protagonists and fellow CF patients Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will Newman (Cole Sprouse). From the get-go, the characters fit squarely into the archetypes of the uptight girl (Stella even says she has clinical OCD) and the disaffected guy, but the fact that both have been hospitalized and are undergoing a special treatment - to try and combat their challenging genetic discorder - grounds their behavior in more believable human emotions. There's never any real doubt as to how the pair are ultimately going to to impact each other's lives, but Five Feet Apart nevertheless takes the time to explore the characters' psychology in depth and examine what makes them tick.

More than anything, it's Sprouse and Richardson that elevate the proceedings above the trappings of a hackneyed teen romance. The pair have brought depth and soul to their roles in coming of age fare as varied as The Edge of Seventeen and Riverdale , respectively, and there are even traces of their previous roles in the characters here (Will definitely has shades of Jughead Jones' sardonic sense of humor and his artistic sensitivity). Five Feet Apart spends little time fleshing out Will and Stella's relationships with their parents, but their romantic chemistry with one another is enough to carry the film on its own. That said, Moises Arias is a welcome addition as Poe (another teen CF patient and, basically, Stella's gay best friend), as is Kimberly Herbert Gregory as their understandably strict caretaker, Barb.

As formulaic as the narrative and players are, admittedly, that's kind of the point: Five Feet Apart is meant to be a typical love story, just one where the main characters have a genetic disorder. Director Justin Baldoni - aka. Rafael Solano on Jane the Virgin - uses a number of familiar techniques from the YA romance playbook to bring Stella and Will's story to cinematic life, whether it be having them bond and fall in love through montage or employing gentle pop music to set the mood during any particular scene. His approach does little to differentiate the film from similar YA movies stylistically, but it gets the job done and keeps the focus on Will and Stella's day to day lives. Indeed, one of Five Feet Apart 's greatest strengths is the amount of time it devotes to showing the minutiae of daily life for CF patients.

Unfortunately, the film runs into a wall when it reaches its third act. Obviously, Will and Stella's story had to take a turn for the melodramatic sooner or later, but the script by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis resorts to some decidedly contrived plot twists in an effort to brings things to a head. These story beats are predicable at best and regressive at their worst, which ends up making the movie as a whole feel far more problematic than it does for its first two-thirds. Thankfully, Five Feet Apart manages to avoid crossing the line into exploitative drama and mostly lands somewhere in the middle, on the scale of tear-jerking teen love stories. Still, for a movie that toys with being a mold-breaker at times, it's a disappointing turn of events.

At the end of the day though, Five Feet Apart gives CF patients a soapy love story to call their own, if not an especially strong or memorable one. It seems unlikely to follow in The Fault in Our Stars ' footsteps and become the next YA romance sensation, but the film nevertheless has something to offer its target audience, thanks to its leads' sensitive and charismatic performances. The movie's actual title alludes to an act of rebellion on Will and Stella's parts, as CF patients are supposed to stay six feet apart at all times to avoid catching infections from each other (hence, the pair "steal" one foot back). Ultimately, however, Five Feet Apart falls short of achieving the rebellious standard that it aspires to.

Five Feet Apart is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It is 112 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language and suggestive material.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

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Review: Five Feet Apart

Elle Kowalski , Staff Writer

May 19, 2021

While strong feelings of isolation and lonesomeness emerged in 2020, the movie Five Feet Apart offers reassurance that others are going through the same. The broader picture of the movie shows the importance of connection and human contact with those you love.

I had my heartstrings pulled on when Five Feet Apart was released in March 2019. Director Justin Baldoni turned this true story into a film, and, similar to the original, it stars two teens, Will Newman (Cole Sprouse) and Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson). They share the hardships of living with Cystic Fibrosis.

The film begins by introducing us to Stella. She has spent her life in a box of rules and regulations, to the point dealing with Cystic Fibrosis has become a part of who she is. Instead of living up to her teen years’ expectations, her days are spent trapped in the four walls of the hospital.

The majority of the film’s exposition and rising action is getting to know Stella. Although character development is essential, they spent too much time focusing on her current situation, which seems to be boringly repetitive. I would have liked more background information about her life outside of the hospital. The writers could have easily added information about her past life before this disease.

In contrast to her uptight personality, Will Newman, another hospital patient, is later introduced as someone who sees Cystic Fibrosis as nothing more than an obstacle to his daily tasks. He likes to ignore the rules to make him feel as though he is in control when in reality, he wasn’t. The mix of these two personalities was a great example of how two different teens can respond to the same life-threatening disease.

Although the characters’ lives were interesting, the movie is really only developed once Will introduces himself to Stella. Things get started once we realize their relationship was almost impossible, and patients with Cystic Fibrosis are not allowed within six feet of each other. The fear of catching the other’s bacteria, which very easily could result in death, is what drives Stella away but brings Will closer.

Despite the contrast of characters spicing up the movie, they should really elaborate on how he is a difficult and frustrating patient to deal with. Anyone struggling with cystic fibrosis knows just how serious this disease is. Newman’s personality is seemingly dangerous to kids watching and thinking that it was an ok way to act when his life was being put on the line multiple times.

From this point on, the story’s plot seems to uptick with them repetitively hiding from Nurse Barb ( Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and sneaking a round the hospital while their lust for each other grows.

In conclusion, the message behind Five Feet Apart is one of the best qualities about it. In today’s times, I would recommend it to anyone who is feeling lonesome. The theme motivated me to get out of my comfort zone and experience life because you never really know when death could take it from you.

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Five Feet Apart

A pair of teenagers with cystic fibrosis meet in a hospital and fall in love, though their disease means they must avoid close physical contact.
Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. There's an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction. Love has no boundaries.
Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient who actively uses social media to cope with her illness and try to live a normal life. She meets another CF patient, Will Newman (Cole Sprouse), and they quickly develop feelings for each other. Will finds Stella's Vlog on YouTube, in which Stella discusses living with CF. Will is intrigued and watches every single video she posted. Stella's best friend, Poe, also has CF and is openly gay. He tells Stella that he broke up with his new boyfriend; Stelle later realizes Poe was pushing away because of his CF. Stella's sister, Abby, was the adventurous type and died a few years ago while she was cliff diving. CF patients are strictly kept at least six feet (1.8 m) apart to reduce the risk of cross-infection, as contracting bacterial infections from other CF patients can be life-threatening. Stella's nurse, Barbara, previously had a pair of romantically involved CF patients who died from cross-infection, and Barbara does not want to see this happen again. Will and Stella go on their first date but keep it secret, as the nurses wouldn't approve. During the date, they make sure to stay six feet apart. They eventually end up at the hospital pool, where they strip to reveal their scars from their past surgeries. They stare at each other and go for a swim together. Halfway through their date, Barbara notices that both Will and Stella aren't in their rooms. She immediately goes on a search to find them. They are aware of this, and quickly make it back to their rooms in time. Will is at the hospital for a medication trial, which is trying to get rid of the bacterial infection he had in his lungs. Stella notices that Will isn't strictly adhering to his treatment and she offers to let him draw her, in exchange for Will following his treatment regimen. Much of their interaction is mediated through video chat, and they arrange a second date. Stella's resolve to follow the six foot rule weakens, and she agrees to a second date with will, policed by a five-foot billiards cue. They walk around the hospital while holding opposite ends of the pool cue, falling further in love. Stella comes up with a scavenger hunt for Will's birthday, which catches him by surprise. It leads to Will meeting up with Stella, who leads him to a room filled with all of her and his friends. They have a huge feast that was made by Poe and shared a ton of laughs. Meanwhile, the nurses are catching on to Will's and Stella's relationship, and make the decision to transfer Will to another hospital in hopes of protecting both of them. As they are about to submit the transfer note, they got an alert from Poe's room. The nurses rush in to find him out cold on his hospital room's floor. A few more nurses enter the room; one gives CPR in hope that Poe will survive, but he never wakes up. Stella and Will are quick to find out what happened. Stella is in tears: Poe was her best friend and she never got to hug him. Stella then realizes that she is living life too strictly. She lets Will know that growing up, everyone was prepared for her to die, but she has been the only one to live. She said that after Abby's death, her parents death, and Poe's death, she has survivor guilt. She also tells him that it was her dream to see the lights, but it would require them to walk two miles (3.2 km) away from the hospital in the snow. As Will and Stella go to see the lights, Stella grabs Will's hand, which she justifies because she has gloves on. They come across a pond and slide around on the frozen surface. Meanwhile, the hospital is notified that after years of waiting, a lung transplant is available for Stella. She receives a bunch of texts asking where she is, but she ignores them to be with Will. Stella sits of a bridge, but then falls off while Will is distracted. She fell through the ice and Will pulls her out of the water. The shock of the cold water has made Stella unresponsive and put her into cardiac arrest. Ignoring the risk of infection, Will performs CPR and Stella wakes up. They make their way back to the hospital and Stella learns that she didn't catch the infection from Will. When Stella wakes up from her surgery, she sees Will through the glass of her room. He tells her that he only has a month to live, and he doesn't want her to have to go through his death like all the other deaths she went through. He tells her goodbye and doesn't know what is to come in terms of him and her. Before he goes, he makes her close her eyes, because he said he wouldn't be able to leave if she was looking at him. She closes her eyes and he walks away.

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Review: ‘Five Feet Apart’: Teaches Us the Importance of Touch

Five Feet Apart is a film audiences go into expecting to cry. The formula is simple. Sick teenager meets another sick teenager and they fall in love. The Fault in Our Stars taught us that this typically does not end well. A Walk to Remember lead us down a path where the survivor did not have a terminal illness. Five Feet Apart gives us a blending of these scenarios while keeping with the cliches we have come to know and love in these particular type of films. What I was not expecting from the movie was to sit in my chair as the credits began to roll thinking thoughtfully to myself. An ambiguous ending is not typical in these types of movies and honestly the refreshing outlook audiences need by the end of the feature.

We immediately meet Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) who is attempting to explain her world to us. She’s back in the hospital once more because of her Cystic fibrosis. To say she has her regimen down is an understatement. She takes her treatments very seriously and cannot fathom anyone not doing the same. In fact, when she meets Will (Cole Sprouse) she is bothered so much by him essentially forgoing his treatments that she makes a deal with him. As the teens begin to take and do their numerous treatments together. Through doing their treatments together the two realize they have far more in common than merely their disease, but the disease continues to keep them apart.

Despite Five Feet Apart falling into cliches it’s more than a romance. In many ways most of us learn about the struggles of Cystic fibrosis for the first time. While most of us know of the disease, we do not know the statistics or struggles behind it. Both Richardson and Sprouse show the two ends of the spectrum. One teen has pure determination coursing their veins to get better and get a lung transplant and the other has discarded treatments until they meet each other. We also see the power of positive thinking. Though the two personalities clash at first as they start to get along the best parts of each other rub off on each other. They bring the best out of each other alongside the supporting cast.

Though we see very little of most of the supporting cast, Barb (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and Poe (Moises Arias) stand out during their time on screen. They force you to care about them as they care about our leads. While not revealing much about themselves, we still manage to care about these two characters as well. My only wish is that we could have learned a bit more about these characters outside of their lives in the hospital. What little we did learn about Poe had to do with his sexuality. What lurks beneath the surface? The urge to get to know these characters was imminent the moment they appear on screen, especially Poe. Somehow though this does not make the events of the movie, both with or without them, any less powerful.

The film makes us consider hard truths of life that Cystic fibrosis patients cannot run away from. They make us think about those around us and the things most of us can do that we take for granted. Most of us can walk up and hug just about anyone. Do germs spread? Yes, but we do not have to wonder about strands of bacteria interfering with bacteria in our bodies that when combined could make us far worse off than before. That’s what these two teens had to worry about the duration of the film. They remind us in many ways we should not sweat the small stuff because at the end of the day we should focus our power on far more important battles in our life to face.

Ultimately two teenagers are plopped into a cliche teen drama that centers around their illness. Instead of merely accepting their circumstances they begin to live. They do not live for anyone else but themselves. They take away power from something they have devoted giving too much power too. Granted, they don’t have a choice in the matter, but they remind us that our lives are important. Our happiness means something. While we might not get to choose the entire path we walk, we must remember that merely having the luxury to touch someone is a blessing. After all, all our senses allow us to truly feel pure bliss. They allow us to partake in the world at such a young age. Once we take even one of those senses away we are left longing for something we never thought about missing in the first place.

Michelle Patterson prides herself on her random pop culture knowledge. She finds great joy in all things horror related and tries to enjoy movies on a weekly basis. If she’s not at the theater, she can be found at a convention or a concert. To connect with her more, check out her Instagram page, Twitter Page, Facebook Page, or her website.

'Five Feet Apart': Cole Sprouse's First Movie in 19 Years

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Film Review | Five Feet Apart

Movie poster. Stella and Will smile at each other while sitting on opposite sides of a white hospital hallway.

Five Feet Apart tells the story of Stella and Will – two teenagers with cystic fibrosis – their struggles, and the love that blooms between them in the most star-crossed of places. Cystic fibrosis is a genetically inherited disease which causes buildups of mucus within the body that eventually overcome the lungs and digestive system, leading to death. In a cruel irony, the very disease that connects Stella and Will is also what separates them. CF patients must stay six feet away from each other at all times in order to avoid catching each others’ specific strains of bacteria which can lead to serious infections, removal from the transplant list, and a much quicker death. With lives fraught with the constant prospect of death on the horizon, how is it possible to make the most of the time they have left?

At first glance, this is not the sort of film I would usually pick up as I’m not the biggest fan of watching a movie for the sole purpose of crying my eyes out. While this story has certainly made countless viewers cry, I found myself dry-eyed throughout my viewing, but instead being left at the end with a profound empathy. Five Feet Apart does not exist simply to cause pain. Rather, it is an exploration of what makes life so beautiful, both the parts we experience and those which we are denied. What does a relationship look like when you can’t so much as hold your lover’s hand?

The result is a bittersweet yet charming tale that keeps the audience engaged from beginning to end. Stella and Will have spent their lives in and out of hospitals, knowing each day may be their last. They would have more right than most to be sullen and despondent at their lot in life, yet both of them find ways to express themselves: Stella with her blogging and Will with his satirical cartoons. Their situation, rather than detracting from their joy, makes each simple pleasure they experience together that much purer.

In his premiere film as a director, Justin Baldoni does an excellent job of taking a relatively small budget of 7 million and the contained space of a hospital and exploring all of the possibilities to the fullest. How would you have a date at a hospital? Where would you go? What would you do? My favorite scene of the film occurs by the pool during said date. Stella and Will, both having admitted their mutual attraction, stand before each other and strip down to their underwear. Their bodies are covered in scars from surgeries and stomach tubes. Still, all they see is each others’ beauty. The sad truth that they will never be able to touch each other is painfully clear in this scene.

Stella smiles as she looks at her phone while sitting on a hospital bed while wearing a nasal cannula.

The film’s theme of joy in the face of life’s difficulties is recognizable on its own, but is even more understandable once the inspiration for the film is revealed: Claire Wineland . Best known for the Facebook page The Clairity Project and her Youtube channel, Claire Wineland was a remarkable young woman who dedicated her life to educating people on what a life with cystic fibrosis is like, both the joys and the hardships. With the certainty of an early death being taught to Claire from a young age, she ceased to fear it in the way most people do and talked openly about what it was like living with a terminal illness, the procedures and treatments she went through, as well as the fun and adventures she had with her family and friends.

Will smiles while he looks at his laptop in the hospital. He is wearing a nasal cannula.

Five Feet Apart: A Film Review

Claire inspired Baldoni to create Five Feet Apart after they collaborated together on the TV series My Last Days. While the film was in production, she also acted as a consultant for the film and contributed in many ways such as storyboarding and brainstorming with Baldoni and writers Tobias Iaconis and Mikki Daughtry, helping Sprouse and Richardson accurately imitate CF coughs, and decorating Stella’s hospital room set. In many ways Richardson’s performance of Stella, especially her blogging, is a direct tribute to Wineland. Sadly, Claire passed away due to complications following a double lung transplant in September of 2018. Though she did not get to see the finished project, Claire certainly would have appreciated the message that Five Feet Apart has to share. As she explained for the blog Death Wish Coffee , “As I grew up with CF, I started to realize that the way in which sick people are actually represented, and talked about in society…is degrading. People don’t see them as full, complex beings with wide ranges of emotions, life experience and valid things to share with the world,” Wineland would be proud to see that Stella and Will are both far more than their disease.

It is such a simple desire, to touch someone. Something that most of us take for granted. Five Feet Apart reminds us how wonderful each and every joy we have in life is and how often we take simple things for granted. Still, we are not led to pity Will or Stella and the lives they live. Disease does not limit potential and a full life is not measured in the length of days lived. Claire Wineland is certainly proof of this. This is not simply a movie to make you cry – it is a film to make you think. Watch Five Feet Apart with a loved one and once it is over, give them a hug. Bask in the simple joy of touch. Enjoy what it feels like to be alive. *

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Five Feet Apart Parent Guide

The yearning gaze of the young lovers permeates the film and the theater like teenage pheromones..

Due to their medical conditions they cannot come within 6 feet of each other, but that won't stop Stella and Will from falling in love.

Release date March 15, 2019

Run Time: 116 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

Seventeen-year-old Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) is doing everything she possibly can to control her cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease which is destroying her lungs and will eventually kill her. She obsessively follows her drug regimen and has even designed an app to help others manage chronic illnesses. She conscientiously remains six feet apart from friend and fellow hospital patient, Poe (Moises Arias), lest the two inadvertently share their respiratory tract bacteria and worsen their diseases. Then Stella meets Will (Cole Sprouse), the handsome bad boy on the CF ward. Their initial antagonism lasts just long enough to add some spark to the relationship before the two fall for each other. But Will isn’t just another CF patient: he’s been infected by a bacteria known as B. cepacia , which has removed him from the lung transplant waiting list. Getting close to Will could not only make Stella sicker; it could permanently disqualify her from the lung transplant she so desperately needs.

Given this premise, I expected Five Feet Apart to be a depressing movie. That it isn’t is due to the character of Stella, a young woman of such courage, resilience, humor, and grace that she would light up any film. She’s no plaster saint either – Stella struggles with fear, grief, anger, rebellion, and loss, but her unfailing hopefulness not only buoys her up, it also changes Will. That’s not to say the movie isn’t sad. It ticks all the boxes in the “teen weepy” genre and the screening I attended was full of audible sobbing.

Aside from the sexual content, parents will want to be aware of the 21 profanities in the movie and a scene where teens drink champagne to celebrate an 18 th birthday. The bigger issue for some viewers will be the medical scenes. Anyone who is easily unnerved by hospitals or medical procedures should give this film a miss. We see kids taking medication, patients coughing (even coughing up mucus), and operating rooms where blood is visible. It is worth noting that not all the medical footage is strictly accurate – people rarely come out of a general anaesthetic as lucid and attractive as they do in this film.

The upside to the medical issue at the core of this film is that it encourages discussion of serious topics, such as Stella and Will’s exploration of the meaning of death. Is death merely a prelude to a new life, as Stella insists? Or is it just a big sleep as Will postulates? And, more than most teen films, Five Feet Apart asks the question of what it really means to love, to put the needs of another ahead of your own. The answer might break your heart, but it could also be a valuable lesson for teen audiences.

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Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for five feet apart.

Five Feet Apart Rating & Content Info

Why is Five Feet Apart rated PG-13? Five Feet Apart is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for thematic elements, language and suggestive material

Violence: A main character gets angry and throws things around her hospital room. A main character pretends to jump off a roof as a joke. Sexual Content: A young woman tells her friends to “use protection”. There is a non-detailed discussion about a couple having sex in someone’s hospital room. Two characters discuss whether one of them likes sex. A gay character discusses his past relationships without graphic detail. A gay character jokes about not liking white boys. A young woman is seen in her bra and underwear as she washes her hands in the bathroom. A main character makes a crude comment about having sex in the Vatican. A young woman runs a pool cue over her breast in front of the young man who wants to touch her. A young woman and young man strip down to their underclothes and stare longingly at each other. A couple talks about having sex, without any graphic detail. Characters talk about a girl’s breasts. Profanity: There are 21 instances of profanity or coarse language, including two sexual expletives (and possibly a muffled third), one sexual hand gesture, six scatological curses, two crude anatomical words, six terms of deity, and other assorted swear words or vulgar expressions. Alcohol / Drug Use: Teens are frequently seen appropriately taking lots of prescription medications. At an eighteenth birthday party, the guests, not all of whom are 18 years old, drink champagne. A young woman is shown coming out of a general anaesthetic and saying things she wouldn’t normally say. Other There is a lot of graphic medical footage in the film. An infected gastric tube is shown. A main character is shown coughing and spitting up mucus. A character jokes about a suppository. A young woman undergoes two dangerous surgeries. Some blood is seen. A main character falls through the ice on a frozen lake. Characters talk about death. A secondary character dies and the death of another character is discussed. Lungs are seen prior to a transplant surgery.

Page last updated June 13, 2019

Five Feet Apart Parents' Guide

Stella has been waiting for years for a lung transplant. Have you ever thought about being an organ donor? What are the requirements for organ donation where you live? Have you discussed your wishes with your family?

Organ donation in the United States

Organ donation in the United Kingdom

Organ donation in Canada

Are you interested in donating money to help fund research into cystic fibrosis?

Research donations in the US.

Research donations in Canada.

Research donations in the United Kingdom

Stella and Will have different opinions on what happens after death. Stella believes that death is the gateway to another kind of life. Will thinks death is the end. What do you believe? Why? Have you ever had a discussion with someone whose opinions differ from yours? Did you learn anything from them?

Loved this movie? Try these books…

Five Feet Apart, which was a bestseller on the New York Times list, was written by Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry and is the story on which this film was based.

John Green’s novel, The Fault in Our Stars, tells the story of Hazel and Augustus, both of whom are fighting battles with cancer. The novel contains a brief episode of adolescent sexual activity. Another story focused on a relationship between two somewhat younger cancer patients is Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts.

The most recent home video release of Five Feet Apart movie is June 11, 2019. Here are some details…

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COMMENTS

Five Feet Apart movie review & film summary (2019)
He makes the most of the way he uses the hospital setting, the atrium lobby with its drab, sturdy institutional furniture. As Stella and Will fall in love, it seems warmed by their tenderness and excitement. Even healthy young people can die. Illness can devastate families, emotionally and financially.
Five Feet Apart
Movie Info. Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control -- all of which get put to the ...
Five Feet Apart Movie Review
Five Feet Apart. By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer. age 13+. Strong acting saves predictable, sentimental love story. Movie PG-13 2019 116 minutes. Rate movie. Parents Say: age 14+ 34 reviews.
Five Feet Apart
It doesn't quite kill the good that comes before it, but it comes mighty close. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 20, 2022. Five Feet Apart suffers from the same clichés as most of the ...
'Five Feet Apart' Review: Ailing Teenagers Live Dangerously for Love
Five feet, as measured by the pool cue they carry between them, will be their eventual concession to love and living dangerously. Promoted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as an awareness tool ...
'Five Feet Apart': Film Review
In the end, all that manipulation backfires. Unlike the best of its genre, the rote Five Feet Apart isn't wrenching enough to jerk a single tear. Rated PG-13, 115 minutes. Haley Lu Richardson ...
Five Feet Apart review
Dragging her oxygen line around intensive care, she crosses paths with a fellow trialist, floppy-haired hunk Will (Cole Sprouse), and a wicked new twist is added to an old meet-cute: they can't ...
Five Feet Apart (2019)
Five Feet Apart: Directed by Justin Baldoni. With Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory. A pair of teenagers with cystic fibrosis meet in a hospital and fall in love, though their disease means they must avoid close physical contact.
Review: 'Five Feet Apart' elevates the sick teen genre with a poignant
The 5-feet-apart rule (Stella "steals" a foot back) creates an inherently potent tension on screen, where something as simple as extending a hand might cause the audience to instinctively flinch.
'Five Feet Apart' review: Actors excel in beautifully authentic take on
★★★ "Five Feet Apart," with Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Claire Forlani. Directed by Justin Baldoni, from a screenplay by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. 116 minutes.
Five Feet Apart
Five Feet Apart is a 2019 American romantic drama film directed by Justin Baldoni ... On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 53% based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ...
Five Feet Apart (2019)
Gordon-11 1 February 2020. I find this film very infuriating, because all we see is some teenagers doing one irresponsible thing after another. And many scenes defy infection control measures, which is the underlying reason for being five feet apart - the whole premise of the film. 17 out of 34 found this helpful.
Five Feet Apart
Language can be harsh, especially the film's two gratuitous f-words. We also listen in on a number of melancholy conversations about death and mortality; they're honest discussions, to be sure, but grim nonetheless. Five Feet Apart is both beautiful and hopeful, problematic and tragic—especially for younger viewers. Yes, there are a lot ...
'Five Feet Apart' Film Review
Summary. Even with Haley Lu Richardson as the film's secret weapon, Five Feet Apart suffers from the same clichés as most of the decade's YA romantic dramas while having to stomach the manipulation of trivializing an illness that can be terminal. The young-adult romantic drama gets more manipulative with every big swing studio have taken ...
Five Feet Apart (2019) Review
In the end, Five Feet Apart, despite its strong performance from both Richardson and Sprouse as well as a gentle story of love and life, falls short of establishing itself in the teen / YA film genre. Just another youthful tragic love that feels too derivate to The Fault in Our Stars. 3.2 Out of 5 (Iffy Choice) Released On: March 15th, 2019
Five Feet Apart Movie Reviews
Five Feet Apart is a well-acted YA romance and provides some welcome representation, but eventually finds itself bogged down in shlocky melodrama. The film wastes little time before introducing its protagonists and fellow CF patients Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will Newman (Cole Sprouse). From the get-go, the characters fit squarely ...
Five Feet Apart
Technical: 3.5/5. Five Feet Apartchecks off all the boxes of the young-adult "sick flick" phenomenon about star-crossed relationships involving chronically or even terminally ill teenagers. In the case of Stella and Will, played by Haley Lu Richardson (Columbus) and Cole Sprouse (Riverdale), they meet as cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in the ...
DGN Omega
Review: Five Feet Apart. While strong feelings of isolation and lonesomeness emerged in 2020, the movie Five Feet Apart offers reassurance that others are going through the same. The broader picture of the movie shows the importance of connection and human contact with those you love. I had my heartstrings pulled on when Five Feet Apart was ...
Five Feet Apart (2019)
Synopsis. Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient who actively uses social media to cope with her illness and try to live a normal life. She meets another CF patient, Will Newman (Cole Sprouse), and they quickly develop feelings for each other. Will finds Stella's Vlog on YouTube, in which Stella discusses living ...
Review: 'Five Feet Apart': Teaches Us the Importance of Touch
Five Feet Apart is a film audiences go into expecting to cry. The formula is simple. Sick teenager meets another sick teenager and they fall in love. The Fault in Our Stars taught us that this typically does not end well.A Walk to Remember lead us down a path where the survivor did not have a terminal illness.Five Feet Apart gives us a blending of these scenarios while keeping with the cliches ...
CF Physician Gives Review of 'Five Feet Apart'
Five Feet Apart is the latest featured film creating buzz for its plot that is centered around a romance between two teenagers living in the hospital with cystic fibrosis (CF). CF is a rare lung and digestive system disease that makes the body produce very thick mucus that can clog the lungs and lead to severe infections, making it very serious ...
Film Review
Claire inspired Baldoni to create Five Feet Apart after they collaborated together on the TV series My Last Days.While the film was in production, she also acted as a consultant for the film and contributed in many ways such as storyboarding and brainstorming with Baldoni and writers Tobias Iaconis and Mikki Daughtry, helping Sprouse and Richardson accurately imitate CF coughs, and decorating ...
Five Feet Apart Movie Review for Parents
Five Feet Apart Rating & Content Info . Why is Five Feet Apart rated PG-13? Five Feet Apart is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for thematic elements, language and suggestive material . Violence: A main character gets angry and throws things around her hospital room. A main character pretends to jump off a roof as a joke. Sexual Content: A young woman tells her friends to "use protection".