Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is another anaemic entry in Netflix’s YA romance catalogue

“I don’t know why you just can’t admit you farted.” “I announce it. Like, ‘Yo, I let one rip.’ It’s funnier if you do it like that.” “You can fart if you wanna fart. Everybody farts.” “It’s the fart. It’s always the fart.” No, these explosive lines are not from a modernisation of The Clouds by Aristophanes. They are from a Netflix adaptation of a YA novel by Jennifer E Smith. Flatulence, or the holding in of, becomes a metaphor for the unhealthy expectations of a high-school teenager’s desire to be perfect in  Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between . It sparks the first fight in his relationship with his girlfriend — and fans the flames of their last. Truth be told, to fart or not to fart is not the sole bone of contention. The epilogue of the couple’s relationship is decided in the prologue. Jordan Fisher’s Aidan (the boy who won’t fart) and Talia Ryder’s Clare (the girl who lets it rip) make a “break-up pact” on the very night of their meet-cute to couple up for their final year of high-school and part ways before heading off to college. Trouble arrives on the eve of parting ways when the two decide to celebrate their relationship’s greatest hits in an expedited date. What a terrible idea indeed. Telling a story that is a lead-in to a predestined break-up rather than a straightforward happily-ever-after is a bold enough gambit for a YA romance nevertheless, more so for a director making his debut feature. But Michael Lewen (wait, who?) serves an anaemic adaptation that simply goes through the motions, hitting all the expected notes in formal succession, with the assistance of upbeat eruptions of pop music. If the emotions don’t feel phoney and the premise a whole bunch of baloney, it’s because Ryder and Fisher make for a likeable pair. But the writing forces them to leap over narrative hurdles and throws them into one too many drippy arguments, instead of allowing them to convincingly embody the emotional trials of teens negotiating better futures for themselves. Clocking in at 82 minutes, the movie can’t balance its narrative economy with any emotional insight. Clare and Aidan are teens naive enough to think this inane plot device makes them, as they proudly put it, “the anti-broken hearts club,” “poster children of modern relationships,” and “the king and queen of ending things.” The movie doesn’t respect their intelligence or that of its audience to write characters who should know better. It takes an adult in Clare’s mom (Jennifer Robertson) to remind her that “a relationship doesn’t have a shot in hell if you start planning its end before it even starts.” [caption id=“attachment_10880801” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]  Hello Goodbye and Everything In Between[/caption] Clare and Aidan meet-cute at a Halloween party in their scrubbed-clean, middle-class suburban town. She has put on a costume of minimum effort. He is dressed as Ferris Bueller. Sparks fly amidst a karaoke rendition of The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout.” As he walks her home, the two hit it off instantly. Before they share their first kiss, she ensures to get their priorities straight: they can date for a year and then they will go their separate ways. She wants to go to Dartmouth and become a lawyer (“I’m gonna fight for people that need protecting.”). He wants to go to Berklee and become a musician — that is if his doctor parents will allow it. Priorities set, they kiss. A quick montage takes us through the milestones: from first date to Valentine’s Day to graduation. Come the day of the break-up, doubts creep in. Clare has grown too fond of Aidan to just rip the band-aid off. Aidan, not quite as eager to call it a day, has plotted a road trip down memory lane to make her reconsider their pact. With each relived milestone, a will-they-won’t-they tension of a different kind mounts. To relieve the tension, Clare calls in her best friend Stella (Ayo Edebiri). Aidan’s best friend Scotty (Nico Hiraga) too joins in. Detours delay the inevitable. But all roads lead to the eventual conflict and reconciliation, as the two realise not breaking up will only hold them back from enjoying their college lives. The movie at least respects their decision enough to not reverse it. What carries a premise that strains credulity is Ryder and Fisher’s relaxed chemistry. Ryder, who was a revelation alongside Sidney Flanigan in the indie abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always, feels quite at ease in a romcom. She gives a prudent, determined young woman a believable emotional reality by grounding her with vulnerabilities. Clare’s parents, we learn, were high-school sweethearts whose marriage was a complete disaster, forcing her and her mom to move across three different states. The eagerness to not repeat history and the constant relocation leads to commitment issues. Fisher conveys the pressures of being the son of two parents with high expectations, and how these pressures spill over into every relationship. Among the supporting cast, Edebiri and Hiraga are given little else but quirks to work with. [caption id=“attachment_10880811” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]  Still from Hello Goodbye and Everything In Between[/caption] YA romances tend to follow a tried-and-tested rubric of giving viewers more or less what they expect. But this doesn’t warrant the kind of mechanical construction that hinders most entries in the Netflix catalogue. Buried somewhere underneath Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is a far better movie about the bittersweet emotions of approaching milestones, the fear and excitement of beginning/ending new journeys, and the challenges of long-distance relationships. If only Lewen and his screenwriters were discerning enough to make it… Prahlad Srihari is a film and music writer based in Bengaluru. Read all the  **_Latest News_** _,_  **_Trending News_** _,_  **_Cricket News_** _,_  **_Bollywood News_** _,_  **_India News_**  and  **_Entertainment News_**  here. Follow us on  Facebook_,_  Twitter and  Instagram_._