Review: The Sun Is Also a Star
I was duped. I suppose I should stop assuming that when a New York Times bestseller is made into a movie that it’s going to be epic. The Sun Is Also a Star was in fact, not epic at all.
You know those nights you have when you want to watch something new, but you’re not sure what to watch? That was me yesterday. I was scrolling through Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix for probably 40 minutes; I am also very indecisive. Then I came across The Sun Is Also a Star. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie a while back but it was only going to be in theaters for one day (correct me if I’m wrong). I couldn’t make it to the movies that day, time went on and I forgot about it. So when I came across it last night I couldn’t not watch it. Unfortunately, I wish I would have spent that hour and a half watching The Office instead.
The Sun Is Also a Star is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Nicola Yoon. Yara Shahidi (Black-ish) plays Natasha, a young New Yorker who doesn’t believe in love or destiny- just science and facts. She then meets Daniel (Charles Melton), a hopeless romantic who does believe in true love and the possibility that they were destined to be together. He spends the day trying to prove that he can get her to fall in love with him, unaware that she’s trying everything in her power to prevent her family from being deported back to Jamaica the following day.
Now I don’t think the premise for this story is horrible, but the movie itself was hard to keep watching. I wanted to like it so bad y’all I did. I love Charles Melton (for you Riverdale watchers out there) and him paired with Yara makes for a damn good looking couple. But I didn’t think they had much chemistry. I don’t know if it was the writing or something else, but their performances weren’t too believable either. There were a lot of moments that were too preachy, a tad theatrical and they seemed forced. It was just boring to watch. Very vanilla. Bleh.
I did like the movie’s score and how ethnically diverse the cast is though. And there were some shots from a birds-eye view of the city that were beautiful. Watching a movie based in New York City makes me feel some sort of way now that I live here. I’m still trying to figure out the hotspots for film sets around here so I can stumble across one or two in my spare time.
I’m sure the book is great. Hell, the book is always better than the movie as we all know. But I don’t think I want to read the book after watching The Sun Is Also a Star. If the movie doesn’t urge me to read the book it was derived from, you know I really, REALLY didn’t fancy the film. Oh well. I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts on it. Maybe I have an unpopular opinion. If you’ve watched the movie or might go check it out, report back with your opinions and let’s hash it out.
