Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between Review: The End of Love

If there’s one thing that Netflix is going to do, it’s crank out low-stakes films based on beloved YA novels. Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is the latest in the NYAU (Netflix YA Universe) and a decent addition to the collection.

Starring (and produced by!) Jordan Fisher, who is no stranger to the NYAU, along with relative newcomer Talia Ryder, Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between has all of the components of a typical YA Rom-Com: a gorgeous cast, an indie-pop soundtrack, and hints of aesthetic lighting.

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between stands out from the fodder with its A+ cast. Besides his run in one of the To All the Boys sequels, Fisher has a broadway run under his belt and a turn as a DC Superhero.

Talia Ryder, besides being known as a video girl for none other than Olivia Rodrigo, already has achieved critical acclaim with her debut feature role in Never, Rarely, Always, Sometimes, a timely film centered on women’s reproductive rights.

Rounding out the cast of young adults are Nico Hiraga, the king of high school comedies, and Ayo Edebiri, who is having her moment with FX/Hulu’s The Bear. The scenes where the four leads come together are the most enjoyable of the film, even though the Aidan/Claire relationship is the focal point.

To be honest, the romance at the center of Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between isn’t the most compelling. That’s not to discredit the actors; Fisher and Ryder are a charming duo, and the structure of the film is enough to hold your attention. It’s just hard to care about a relationship that’s ending.

The storyline is fairly unique to the YA genre. It’s not often that a film follows a breakup between two characters that clearly love each other, who are just adhering to an expiration date they preemptively assigned to their relationship before it even started.

Also unique is the timeline. While this film technically spans 10+ months, it’s really just set within a 24-hour period of their relationship. That being said, Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between follows a pretty typical formula.

“The Goodbye” of the film is really just recreating their relationship highlights in rapid succession on their last day together. While we get a cute montage of the months November – July, we get a longer look at their “first” through the lens of their “lasts.”

It’s an interesting way to build up their dynamic. Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between seamlessly transitions between their “goodbye” mini-dates and flashbacks to their firsts. It’s hard to buy into a couple when we’re seeing the denouement of their relationship, so these little vignettes help.

There’s a typical conflict in the last third of the film that breaks up the “fun” and then a sweet semi-reconciliation that wraps the entire thing up. It is actually nice to see a story that sticks to its guns rather than tries to just push the leads together in the end and wipe away the entire plot.

Yes, there is a coda at the end that implies their story isn’t necessarily over, but I’m glad they followed through and respected Claire’s wishes to split up. It allows them each to grow, just like Claire thought it would, and presumably come back together stronger.

The real issue with the film is the characters aren’t realistic for the age they’re trying to portray.

Yes, Aidan is charismatic and cute and an attentive boyfriend. But high-school boys are hardly like that. The “hello” portion of this film when he starts singing karaoke with confidence beyond his years just doesn’t match the high school setting.

And maybe that’s a limitation of the storyline because we don’t get to see much of their relationship evolve. If the film gave us more than just a montage of their months together and a short look at their “firsts,” it might be easier to understand why Aidan is why he is.

Claire is a more believable teenager. Maybe it’s because Ryder is a more age-appropriate choice for a high schooler, or maybe because girls mature faster than boys do. It helps that we see Claire and Stella interact more than we see Aidan interact with his peers.

I almost wish they had aged up the plot of the book and given these characters a college setting. The premise would still apply, and the extra four years of maturity would match Aidan’s personality well.

All in all, Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between falls in the middle of the pack of the NYAU; it’s not as fun or cute as the first To All the Boys I Loved Before, but it’s also not as dumb as The Kissing Booth trilogy. I like the characters, just maybe not as romantic partners.

Cast these actors in more projects! Let’s just put them in scenarios that make more sense for their talents. Give Jordan Fisher an adult, Set it Up style rom-com. Make Talia Ryder the star of the next great series. Ayo and Nico have unparalleled comedic timing and deserve their own main character moments.

Stray Thoughts:

• What time did they start their Goodbye date? Claire had a 7 AM flight to catch, and they fit a ton of stuff in between their family lunch and the sunrise swim.
• Shameless “Jordan Fischer can sing” moment giving him a karaoke scene AND using one of his songs at the end.
• How many skate shops feature live music? It seems weird that he’d choose that as a venue to gig at.
• The triple Talia Ryder scene in the middle of this movie is weirdly placed but also kind of works for me? The girl’s got range!
• I don’t know when they filmed this movie but kudos to both Jordan and Talia for launching themselves into the lake, it looked frigid.
• Gosh I love Nico Hiraga and Ayo Edebiri! 

What did you think of Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is now streaming on Netflix.

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