If I remember correctly, I had stumbled across an article written about Life In A Year quite recently. It was this that got me interested in the story. I have to admit that the reviews were off putting and I almost didn’t even finish watching. But I’m not a quitter and I wanted to find out what would happen. After all, I am a sucker for my teen romance films. Unfortunately I’m still on the fence about this one. There were some things I liked, but overall it left me feeling rather indifferent. I guess I just expected more?

When Daryn (Justice Smith) meets Isabella (Cara Delevingne) one night while they are both attempting to crash a concert, their lives are forever changed.

Unable to get her out of his head, Daryn tracks Isabella down and asks her on a date. Isabella, though hesitant at first, eventually relents. But then Daryn finds out that she is sick and only has one year left to live. He comes up with a plan to give Isabella every experience he can possibly think of for the time she has left.

I actually quite liked the idea of the movie. I knew going into it that it was going to be sad, but because I never really felt the chemistry between the two leads, I struggled to really feel that emotion. Separately the actors were fine; I have seen Cara Delevingne in various other projects over the years and while she isn’t a favorite by any means, I don’t mind her work. I believe this was my first time seeing Justice Smith in anything and while he was also just okay, I was impressed with the scene he shared with his mom at the hospital.

Because of this issue, it was hard to me to relate to the story and to take anything away from it. I kept hoping for something new and different to happen, but it was all very predictable. There was just nothing to look forward to because I knew how the movie was going to play out down to a tee.

Overall, I am still glad that I checked this out despite my disappointments. It did make me cry which can sometimes be cathartic. Unfortunately my expectations were just too high.

Rating: ♥.5