I had high expectations watching “Life in a Year” because my sister raved about it for days, but it simply did not reach the bar. The new movie was released Nov. 27 on Amazon Prime. The plotline consists of two teenagers who fall in love but Isabelle (Cara Delevigne) has terminal cancer. The other pea to the unlikely pod, Daryn (Jaden Smith), does everything he can to make Isabelle’s last year perfect, filling in all the major milestones that she will miss. 

Don’t get me wrong: it’s a cute storyline, but it is predictable. Although I only watched this movie once, I feel like I’ve seen it a thousand times. Daryn is rich and has it all, the sport, the smarts, and the money. Isabella, on the other hand, is poor and has nothing: no close intermediate family, no school, and a sickness that will, unfortunately, end her life early. Daryn’s father (Cuba Gooding Jr.) does everything in his power to end this relationship to focus on Daryn’s future but ultimately fails. 

People could say that what the two have is ‘romantic’. However, I’d care to disagree. Daryn tries everything he can to make Isabella happy and make her life smoother and, to me, it seems that she is unappreciative. She doesn’t want Daryn’s help when he is changing up his whole life because he loves her. Sure, he can over-step the line sometimes, but he is trying at their relationship more than she ever will. 

One positive side to the movie I’d like to point out is the music incorporation. Daryn has a hidden talent for rapping and Isabelle helps him to unleash it. Though one scene in particular I had to turn away from the screen because it was too cringy — when Daryn starts rapping in the middle of the ice cream shop professing his love to Isabelle a day after they met. But, other than that, it was pretty entertaining. Jaden Smith is an artist as well as an actor and I thought that his character’s love for music added a fun and new twist to an otherwise foreseeable movie. 

I am a very emotional person when it comes to movies. This movie was the first ‘sad’ movie I haven’t cried at since… I don’t remember when. If you want a movie to cry to, I’d recommend you watching “Five Feet Apart” or “Clouds” because “Life in a Year” didn’t give me the same heart-wrenching emotions as the other two did. 

“Life in a Year” was a hard pass for me. 

2/4