The 2016 summer movie season housed some major moneymakers, and high-quality ones to boot. Movies like The Conjuring 2, Finding Dory, and Captain America: Civil War all found their audiences and proved to deliver excellent returns on investment. But there were a few divisive ones as well, including Warcraft, Ghostbusters, and the third act of Don’t Breathe. But it was actually a romantic drama that was the most controversial movie of the summer (well, maybe second place when factoring in the online vitriol directed towards Ghostbusters). It ended up being a heartfelt movie that made some money and was swiftly forgotten.
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That would be Me Before You, starring Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke in her second big screen star vehicle after the previous summer’s atrocious Terminator Genisys. And now, thanks to Netflix, it’s not quite so forgotten anymore.
The following contains mentions of assisted suicide.
How Is Me Before You Doing on Netflix & Why Was It So Controversial?
Like with the book upon which it’s based, Me Before You didn’t go over well with the disability rights movement. In their minds the film’s message was that it is better to be dead than live with a disability. Furthermore, it was felt that the movie was positioning a person with a disability as a burden on his family, hence the need for Clarke’s caregiver character.
There was also pushback against the film’s assisted suicide plotline, which is an avenue Sam Claflin’s Will Traynor wants to go down and continues to embrace even after falling in love with Clark’s Louisa. In fact, his lover for her makes him want to take this path even more, as if her life without him would be a full life as opposed to living half a life taking care of him. Novel author Jojo Moyes, who also wrote the screenplay, countered the controversy to this plot point by saying “The fact is, in the film as in the book, nobody else agrees with what he decides to do. This is not by any means sending out a message. It’s just about one character – it’s nothing more than that.” She also based Traynor on a real-life man who got his parents to take him to such a assisted suicide center.
But, regardless of whether you find some of its story to be a bit on the problematic side, it’s still a well-shot, lavish, and moving tear-jerker. Claflin does well with a tough role and Clarke is charmingly bubbly. It also has Charles Dance, a pre-The Sandman Jenna Coleman, and a pre-MCU Vanessa Kirby on the cast list, so there’s some pop culture appeal here, too.
For the week of 12/29/25 to 1/4/26, Me Before You was the sixth most-watched movie on Netflix globally. That put it behind only Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, KPop Demon Hunters, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Goodbye June, and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. As for what it was ahead on the Top 10, that would be Madagascar, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Wrath of Man, and Uptown Girls.
It was the number one movie in quite a few countries. Specifically, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Malta.
Will you be giving Me Before You a watch (or rewatch) on movie night? Let us know in the comments.
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