All My Life is a Universal Pictures film that was originally released on December 4, 2020, and more recently started streaming on Netflix. It stars Harry Shum Jr and Jessica Rothe and is directed by Marc Meyers. Written by Todd Rosenberg, the film runs for 91 minutes.
Netflix’s description of the movie reads:
AN ENGAGED COUPLE LOOKS FORWARD TO A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE TOGETHER, BUT THE SUDDEN DIAGNOSIS OF A TERMINAL ILLNESS THROWS THEIR FUTURE IN LIMBO.
All My Life Ending Explained
Like all romantic comedies (which, in this case, is a tragedy), there is always a shock value to death. However, All My Life chooses instead to focus on the love and laughter the person has left behind. This movie follows the protagonists, Solomon ‘Sol’ Chau and Jennifer ‘Jenn’ Carter, as they explore and navigate their relationship through a traumatic event. We start off by seeing Jenn narrate a monologue about the fragility of life and the importance of making the best of the moments in our lives (something I’m sure we can all get behind).
We see that Sol and Jenn constantly cross each other’s paths and finally speak to each other at a bar, where they flirt a little before the frame shifts to them going for a run as a first date. They bond over their music tastes, love for food and a presumed dislike of zucchini (on her end). We see the couple slowly growing closer and exploring physical and emotional intimacy, with her pestering him to quit his deadbeat job.
When Sol does quit his job, he finds his way to a restaurant that is extremely keen on adapting his dishes for the future. This job comes right after his first scare with cancer and a third of his liver has to be removed to cure him. As soon as he gets better and the couple starts celebrating by planning their eventual wedding, there is another scare. This time his cancer is aggressive enough to kill him. The idea is not to cure him anymore but make sure his life is simple. It is at this moment that they put the wedding on pause and instead focus on keeping him well.
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However, their friends, Dave, Amanda and Megan take none of this nonsense and start planning their wedding for them. This leads to a crowdfunding venture with a wedding that involved some platitudes but mostly intimacy between the two characters in All My Life. The wedding then gives way to a slow dance on the same song Jenn got proposed to and the song that played on their first date. There is a recurring dialogue of “Now or Never” that consistently makes its appearance and defines certain important aspects of their life.
Additionally, the presence of the dog has also become a symbol of support when Sol may fall sick, an element that made All My Life a little better to bear. In the end, we see him lying on the bed, asking his wife to read the eulogy she has been working on, and that is where the monologue from the beginning fits in. It is almost like the story was told as a memory, and that is why there are certain events on highlight. When the work blurs the days for Jenn, Sol makes every interaction interesting for her.
We see Jenn on a vacation after Sol’s death, where she is sitting on a bed looking at the box and USB that her husband left behind. She plugs in the USB and plays the video where Sol is showing off the Speedos he said he would carry on their honeymoon. He records this video to tell her he loves her and thanks her for all that she did for him, including saving his life.
In the video, Jenn also makes an appearance where she comments positively on the Speedo. The whole message comes back full circle. To make it better, he puts some recipes involving zucchini in a box to ensure she likes them. Another callback from the beginning that pays off brilliantly well.
The epilogue of All My Life perhaps ties the whole thing. Director Marc Meyers also includes a video of the original Solomon and Jennifer getting married, which lends weight to the story told. Just before the camera cuts to the credits, we see a tattoo on Jennifer’s back that reads “All My Life,” another brilliant easter egg that makes the movie a little tolerating to watch. All My Life may be a two-star film, but it definitely adheres to the film conventions of the genre and makes clever use of structure.
All My Life is currently streaming on Netflix.
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