You might think we have enough ‘sick teen’ movies right about now. But apparently not. We’ve seen The Fault in Our Stars (where this movie cleverly refers to in a certain scene), Everything everything and the more recent Five Feet Apart. Will Then Came You stand apart in the chaos of sick teen movie?
Release date: February 1st 2018 (USA), May 30th 2019 (the Netherlands) and December 26th 2019 (Dutch Netflix)
Language: English
Director: Peter Hutchings
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Nina Dobrev, Maisie Williams, Tyler Hoechlin
IMDB rating: 7,0
Rating: 
(4.0 / 5)
The movie starts with Skye (Maisie Williams), the terminally sick teenager who hears she only has a short period of time left to life. She has a ‘to die list’ and can’t wait to finish off all the crazy stuff that’s on there. Than Calvin (Asa Butterfield) is introduced: he’s pretty sure he has a dangerous disease, but the doctor is pretty sure he hasn’t. He’s just very hypochondriac.
Afraid of living
Calvin is afraid of living: he works at the luggage department of the airport. On the other hand, Skye wants to life as much as she can. When Calvin is send to a cancer counseling group, he meets Skye. Skye is blunt, looks like she knows what she wants and is not afraid to say whatever she thinks. Calvin and Skye at first seem to be very different, but in the end, they figure out they’re both afraid of living, they just handle it differently.
What follows is an emotional yet with humor filled story about Calvin and Skye becoming best friends. And this is where this movie stands out – it’s not focused heavily on the romantic relationship between the two main characters. Skye even helps Calvin get a date with the hot fly attendant Izzy (Nina Dobrev) and there are no hard feelings at all between them.
Storyline and pace
The storyline is good, yet, the it seems to be faltering at the beginning. The scenes don’t add up very good, and it’s a bit awkward. But after about half an hour, when all the characters are introduced and you’ve gotten a good feeling of the setting, the movie eases into a better pace and the movie feels more natural.
The movie has a lot of humor which is mostly due to the chemistry between Calvin and Skye. They just work very good together and I love how there’s no forced romantic relationship between them. In the end, I shed a tiny little tear. I wasn’t surprised by the ending, but I was touched by it. I think the last 10 minutes were the best minutes of the movie. This is also why I wanted to give the movie 4 stars instead of 3.5 stars.
In conclusion
If you’re not up for another sick teens movie, Then Came You is not your peace of cake. But don’t expect a sappy lovey romantic story either – it has romance, and it has love, but not the way to might expect it. This movie is perfect for a movie night with your besties, or curled up under a blanket all by yourself with chocolate and a cup of tea!
