Then Came You (2019)

Movie Name/Year: Then Came You (2019)

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Length: 97 minutes

Rating: NR

Production/Distribution: BCDF Pictures, Dutch FilmWorks, Forum Film Poland, Megogo Distribution, Pioneer Films, Shout! Factory, Vision Distribution, Front Row Filmed Entertainment

Director: Peter Hutchings

Writer: Fergal Rock

Actors: Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams, Nina Dobrev, Ken Jeong, Tyler Hoechlin, David Koechner, Peyton List, Tituss Burgess, Sonya Walger, Margot Bingham, Colin Moss, Briana Vanskus, Ron Simons, Angel Valle Jr., L. Steven Taylor, Francesca Noel, Ann Osmond

Blurb from IMDb: A hypochondriac working as an airport baggage handler is forced to confront his fears when a British teenager with a terminal illness enlists him to help her carry out her eccentric bucket list.

Selina’s Point of View:

I took a risk in my Top 20 for February 2019 by putting Then Came You at a very high #4. (Cat had it at a 16 for her.) I saw it as risky because it looked like it could easily fall for the trap of relying on tropes. It had a great cast, though, and it just spoke to me.

Normally, Cat’s the one that falls for the more emotional films, but there’s an exception to everything.

Having now seen Then Came You, I’m glad I put it as high as I did.

I haven’t gotten so swept up in a film for this blog in a long time. I think the last movie I remember watching for Trust the Dice that left me with tears in the corner of my eyes and a lasting emotion in my heart was We Are Young. We Are Strong. (2014). We watched that one back in 2017.

Now, I’m not saying there weren’t tropes. I mean, it was a movie about a dying girl changing the life of a healthy guy. There are about twelve million of those out there. So, what sets this one apart?

I’ll be honest: it’s the acting.

I will always reiterate my belief that great actors can save almost anything. They can make up for a bad script, a bad director, bad settings, even bad plots. When you pair great actors with a decent script and a fresh-voiced director instead, you can easily get a masterpiece. That’s what happened here.

Maisie Williams (Doctor Who, iBoy, The Book of Love) being the best person for most parts is not a shock to me. She played one of my two favorite characters in Game of Thrones (2011-2019). She’s carrying that experience into all the rest of her projects. We’re just going to be seeing more and more of her, and I’m here for it. She’s a queen and I gladly bend the knee for her.

The wild card for me was Asa Butterfield (Slaughterhouse Rulez, The House of Tomorrow, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). I’ve seen him in a few things, but felt he was a little generic. That’s not what I got here. There’s a moment in the film where his character has a panic attack. It was so genuine that it was almost difficult to look at. There was nuance to his performance that you could see in a slight twitch, or the way his eyes focused. I need to re-watch some of his other stuff. I feel like maybe I’ve missed something because he’s actually incredible.

I don’t know if I could watch this one again, only because it made me ugly cry. I’d definitely recommend it, though.

  

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 60%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 78%

Metascore – 44/100

Metacritic User Score – 7.3/10

IMDB Score – 7.0/10

CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13

Movie Trailer: