The scariest thing about being in love is, of course, losing that love. I have to imagine that’s why so many love stories have some component of the tragic. Julia Stiles, who’s finally sitting in the director’s chair for Wish You Were Here, helms a story that could easily be called formulaic but personally I call that a lazy bit of labeling. You can’t fault storytellers for going back to situations that are known to illicit emotion. It’s simply not cinematic (or dramatic) enough to have two people enjoy each other’s company for a while before slightly changing and going their separate ways. I mean, hell, what’s the first example people will give you when you ask for the greatest love story? Romeo & Juliet, right? Yeah, didn’t end in roses and butterfly’s that one. Love without the threat of loss is simply not very compelling. Besides, if there’s one thing, I’ve always said it’s that there is nothing wrong with following a formula, as long as the details are your own and worth telling.
Wish You Were Here stars Isabelle Fuhrman as Charlotte, a directionless 20 something who spends most of her time either waiting tables at the cheesy restaurant where she works or with her best friend Helen, having decided (as most of us do at one point or another) that she just wasn’t meant to date. As you would expect, and as we all know is true, love comes calling when you least expect it. For Charlotte this means a chance run-in with Adam (Mena Massoud) , an artist (because of course he is), who takes her on a spur of the moment date lasting through the night. The next morning Charlotte is sure she’s found love and is therefore extra surprised when Adam acts as though she’s overstayed the welcome of a one-night stand and proceeds to disappear, totally ghosting her….as the kids say. For months she struggles to forget that magical night, until a surprise visit from Stacy, Adam’s neighbor (played by director Julia Stiles) stops by with a letter that explains it all. Adam is terminally ill and doesn’t have long, brain cancer. With all of the cards on the table the two rekindle the fire of that night and learn the truth in love being not about the quantity of time but rather the quality of emotion.
I have to say, Stiles really put herself on an uphill climb for her directorial debut. This storyline is so familiar it probably ranks right up there with “Coach inspires inner-city team to win championships and respect”, Stiles was really going to need to hit all the right notes to make herself stand out from the pack. I’ll say that, while this is not The Fault in our Stars, Stiles succeeds and manages to prove herself a viable talent behind the camera. Films like this, it can be hard to see what difference a director makes especially with so much of the films weight falling on the chemistry of its stars (more on that later), but you don’t have to peek too far below the surface to see how Stiles choice of angles, camera movement, and music really launch the emotional impact of the films more emotional scenes.
Stiles certainly elevated her stars but, let’s be honest, Spielberg himself couldn’t make a romance work without chemistry between the leads…and this is where I was most surprised. Isabelle Fuhrman is a known quantity to fans of the horror genre where she’s spent quite a bit of time since her breakout role as the ultra-creepy fake child in Orphan. Mena Massoud, who most would know as Aladdin from the Disney live-action remake of the same name, is a no-brainer. We know he’s handsome, charming, and able to carry a scene….but Fuhrman, who’s made a living out of terrifying us? I’m not going to lie and say it didn’t take a few minutes for me to shake my preconceived image of her but as soon as I settled into the film I was, honestly, shocked at how good she was. Not only did she and Massoud exhibit a natural chemistry that can’t be faked, she also brought a normality to the role which, in hindsight, was critical. If you put Anne Hathaway in this it becomes another piece of emo-romance drivel, but Furhman lets you submerse yourself in the emotion flowing through, you believe these are real people.
While I don’t think this will find itself in the pantheon of great love stories, Wish You Were Here overcomes it’s formulaic origins and delivers a believable story that will break you and make you long for the intensity of new love. Outside of the lovers themselves there isn’t much to cheer for. With names like Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey (yes, that Jennifer Grey) being wasted in template roles that don’t get to be much more then background info intended to deliver a fleshed-out world. I suppose it would have been nice to add more nuance to the world outside Adam and Charlotte but, in the end, I can’t really fault the film as that’s not really the point of this story.