Every Day

Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling YA novel by David Levithan, "Every Day" is an intriguing, but ultimately wispy drama that does the best it can with the concept of the story, but fails to be as fascinating as it should have been.

The story centers on a being named "A" whose "soul" enters the body of a new person every day. This has happened all of A's life and "they" (the book refers to "A" in the plural) don't know anything different. The problem occurs when "A" enters the body of a boy named Justin (Justice Smith), who is the boyfriend of Rhiannon (Angourie Rice). "A" can feel the life of the person they've entered, so they know the relationship isn't going too well because Justin is selfish and self-centered. So "A" gives Rhiannon a wonderful day at the beach and, in doing so, falls for her. The next day "A" wakes up in the body of a girl and immediately goes to find Rhiannon to spend time with her. This happens every day until finally "A" tells Rhiannon the truth about their life. As the two get to know each other, they try to figure out how they could keep up a relationship under extraordinary circumstances.

While the novel devoted each chapter to another person "A" inhabits as they continue to pursue Rhiannon, there are other subplots that hint at a bigger mythology. Those characters are hinted at in the film but never fleshed out, making the film version's focus solely on Rhiannon and how she deals with a burgeoning "relationship" that defies gender roles and comprehension. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to sustain the film, which is in turns totally fascinating and a bit repetitive and talky.

While it promotes an interesting perspective on falling in love with a person rather than a body, it defies this theory by still making Rhiannon attracted mostly to boys (and mostly to attractive ones; she has one same-sex kiss, which is sweet but brief, and one exchange with a transgender boy, but the scene happens to be the one where Rhiannon is the most annoyed and frustrated with the experience).

This isn't to say there aren't good moments here, and it's nice to see something so unusual and original gracing the multiplexes. The cast is fairly effective, with Angourie Rice (so good in "The Nice Guys") the best of the bunch. Maria Bello has a sort of thankless role as Rhiannon's mom, while Michael Cram as her dad fares better. The massive supporting cast -- playing the people that "A" takes over -- is impressive, especially Owen Teague as a boy that Rhiannon particularly gravitates toward.

Director Michael Sucsy ("The Vow") makes a competent film full of indie pop rock and a glossy Seattle suburb. It just feels a little too generic and sweet, whereas the idea could have done some incredible things. In one scene where "A" doesn't show up to meet Rhiannon as promised, they state that they woke up in the body of someone having a lung transplant. What a compelling thing to see -- yet, we don't see it. It also bears asking the question, What if the body they are in dies while they are in it? Do they die too? How hard is it to deal with everyone's daily problems and lives? How difficult is it to not have a family of your own and have to relearn a life every single day and the stress that navigating that life engenders? Not to mention, "A" states they think they grew up in Phoenix, so one wonders why "A" and Rhiannon didn't travel to see if they could find their real parents? Perhaps there's an answer to their mystical life hidden there?

Honestly, this novel would have been best served as a binge-worthy series on Netflix. There is a world of curiosity and empathy that could be explored here, but instead, we get a watered down conventional romance within a captivating non-conventional idea.