Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is a 2022 young adult romance film based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer E. Smith. The movie stars Jordan Fisher and Talia Ryder as the main characters, Aiden and Clare. Our main couple, Aiden and Clare hit it off after meeting at a Halloween party and before they got together, they made a pact to break up after one year as they are both going to different colleges after.
Streaming on Netflix.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between- Movie Review
Premise & Plot
The premise of the film is interesting- no doubt. Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between starts off with a good looking pair of teenage couple getting together after promising to break up after a year. Rather than the typical will-they-won’t-they in romantic films, this movie sets an expiry date for the relationship, which is in itself unique. This placed the movie at a very interesting start.
The remaining and heavy chunk of the movie, however, was placed on the couple’s last date before they break up. In this last date, Aiden and Clare revisited their “firsts”- their first fight, their first date, their first “I love you”, and the audience were dumped with flashbacks to the times these first occurs. The problem with this narrative is that the build up of Aiden and Clare as a couple had not been solidified, and there was very little emotional investment on the couple’s journey thus far. Therefore, when the audience see Aiden frustratingly try to win over Clare, there wasn’t much to feel. The only time I felt sorry for Aiden as a character was when he finally concluded that they should break up- and that was because of how hard Aiden tried throughout the movie, and not for the couple’s journey.
Cast Performances
Perhaps the nature of the plot also affected my judgement of the performance of our casts here. Individually, Jordan Fisher and Talia Ryder are solid actors. Jordan Fisher, in particular, performed the role of a young boy grasping for straws to save his relationship convincingly. Talia Ryder also showed the struggle of a teenage girl not knowing how to deal with her relationship, the weight of her promises and her feelings. Nevertheless, the two actors seem to lack chemistry throughout the show which makes an audience like me even less invested.
Verdict
Not that worth the time. I heard that the book is much better than the movie though.
4.5/ 10