It Ends with Us has generated a great deal of buzz. Being adapted from the beloved yet controversial book of the same name by Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us is a surprise box office hit, grossing over $50 million in its opening weekend, exceeding tracking expectations. Plenty of elements played into the movie’s big opening, but one was buzz about behind-the-scenes conflict with star Blake Lively and director/co-star Justin Baldoni, as many noted neither did promotion for the film together and were not photographed at the film’s world premiere. Some reports suggest that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, overtook the production, taking control away from Baldoni, while other reports paint Baldoni as difficult to work with.
It is currently unclear what exactly happened beyond speculation, yet combined with the fact that It Ends with Us author Colleen Hoover’s work has plenty of fans and vocal critics, one might be looking for a different movie. It Ends with Us has been criticized for being marketed as a romance film despite the subject being about domestic abuse, and with that in mind, audiences who want a real romance with a hint of tragedy should check out Baldoni’s debut film, the underrated Five Feet Apart.
Background on Five Feet Apart
Five Feet Apart opened in theaters on March 15, 2019, and starred Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse as two young patients with cystic fibrosis who try to have a relationship despite being forced to stay six feet apart from each other, and the titular five feet apart is them taking a risk to be closer to one another even though it could kill them. The film was inspired by the life of Claire Wineland, an activist who had cystic fibrosis. Wineland served as a consultant on the film, yet she sadly never got to see it released as she passed away at the age of 21 on September 2, 2018, from a blood clot one week after receiving a double lung transplant. The film was dedicated in her honor.
Five Feet Apart was a modest box office hit. It opened to number 3 at the box office with $13.1 million dollars, impressive considering it only cost $7 million to produce. The film ended its box office run with a domestic total of $45.7 million and $80.1 million worldwide. It didn’t blow the doors off the box office, but it was a hit that helps make for a healthy box office, showing a movie can be a hit without needing to break records.
Breakout Performances by Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse
A good romance hangs on the chemistry of the two leads, and in Five Feet Apart, not only do Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse shine together, but the film also shows the true potential of both. Sprouse was already an established name as he was a child star famous for his role in the series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and spin-off/sequel series The Suite Life on the Deck alongside his twin brother Dylan Sprouse. When Five Feet Apart opened in theaters, Sprouse was on a new career-winning streak due to his role in the popular CW series Riverdale playing Jughead. Sprouse had transformed from child star to teen heartthrob, and in Five Feet Apart, one certainly sees the same spark that made audiences latch onto Johnny Depp or Christian Slater in the late 1980s.
With that said, it is Haley Lu Richardson who steals the show in Five Feet Apart in a star-making performance. Richardson had already appeared in supporting roles in critically acclaimed films like The Edge of Seventeen and Split, but Five Feet Apart put her front and center, and in every scene, she is magnetic. She conveys a real tragedy in her character, one trying to maintain control of a situation that she is powerless in while trying to keep her smile for others. At the same time, deep down, she is being crushed by the constant weight of living with cystic fibrosis.
Richardson’s performance in Five Feet Apart gained plenty of positive reviews from critics at the time of its release. Since then, she has played significant roles in films like Unpregnant and After Yang, as well as the hit series White Lotus. Five Feet Apart remains her best performance, and it is shocking more big-budget projects haven’t reached out to her for lead roles because she has the star factor.
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The Comfort of a Good Tragic Romance
Five Feet Apart feels right at home with other tragic young romance films like Love Story, A Walk to Remember, and The Fault in Our Stars. All of these films are about young love and at least one of the individuals in the couple suffering from a terminal illness. While many might roll their eyes at this film trope, it has persisted for a reason, and when it lands right, it can be very moving. Worth noting is that all of these films were box office hits, with Love Story‘s release in 1970 by Paramount Pictures helping kick off the New Hollywood era of the 1970s by appealing to the taste of young filmgoers.
Five Feet Apart taps into what made those prior films so enjoyable. It gets the audiences invested in the love story between the two characters, thanks to incredible lead performances. It also taps into a youthful mindset that the audience either feels or has felt in their life. Everyone remembers the feeling of being young, where emotions felt so grand in scale. Things an older viewer might look back on as wondering why they were so worried about when one is young feel like life and death, so Five Feet Apart makes that literal.
The idea of being in love with someone who you can never truly be with is painful, so Five Feet Apart shows the cost for both characters to be together while also showing how much it impacts them to be apart. It is a tragic romance with an easy solution, which makes the movie feel more real. It also taps into the intense adolescent (not juvenile, mind you) emotions of first love. Everything feels on the line, and that is true for the characters in Five Feet Apart. It’s emotional and cathartic, making it a movie that can simultaneously make a viewer smile and cry as the best-doomed romances can.
A Lot Can Change in Just Five Years
There is the expression, “They don’t make them like they used to,” and while it is often thrown around a lot, Five Feet Apart is a fascinating look at how much can change in five years. One year to the date after Five Feet Apart came out, it would become an incredibly topical film as much of the world started entering lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only were people advised to wear masks and quarantine to help stop the spread of the virus, but it was also advised in social settings to stand six feet apart from others, as shown in the film. Of all the movies released in 2019, nobody could have expected Five Feet Apart to be the one that would reflect reality.
Yet, the cinematic landscape has also changed. Five Feet Apart seemed like the last grasp of both romance films and films targeted young female audiences, getting a big theatrical push. The romance genre had already started to shift towards streaming with films like To All The Boys I Loved Before and Set It Up in 2018, as the genre was starting to be not deemed big-screen viewing.
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Just two months after Five Feet Apart opened, the romance Long Shot with big star powers like Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron bombed and ended up grossing less than Five Feet Apart. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea that romances should be streaming releases was solidified. The romance genre and mid-budget movies struggled to make a major comeback on the big screen. In 2024, films like Upgraded, The Idea of You, and Turtles All The Way Down should have seen a theatrical release but were sent straight to streaming.
Today, Five Feet Apart would likely be released as a streaming movie. Yet, it came along just at the right time when a romance movie, particularly one aimed at a teenage crowd, could not only open in theaters but also find an audience. Five Feet Apart might not be game-changing, but it is a delightful film that is worth checking out.
