Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

All My Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 5, 2021

The most predictable part of life is it's unpredictability. One day might be full of carefree joy and the next...a cancer diagnosis. That's the essential story within All My Life, a heartfelt drama that posits that life is “a series of forgotten days” until one day life gives something to remember, hopefully for the better, sometimes for the worse. The story centers on a young couple on the way to happily ever after when a life changing diagnosis threatens to tear it all apart. But rather than pack up and go home, the couple, through some tears and working through some terrors, pushes forward to celebrate what matters in life: making the best of the time allotted and refusing to allow pending storm clouds to ruin a day before the rain even begins to fall.

Psychology graduate student Jenn Carter (Jessica Rothe) meets aspiring chef Sol Chau (Harry Shum Jr.) while out with friends at a bar. The two instantly hit it off. Their friendship blossoms into a romantic connection and the more time they spend together, the more deeply they fall in love. It has all the appearances of the perfect relationship. Jenn fully supports Sol's dream of ditching his office job and moving into the restaurant business, to follow his heart regardless of any financial ramifications. She facilitates that move by asking him to move in with her. The relationship progresses and Sol eventually proposes. Jenn says yes. But soon thereafter Sol is admitted to the hospital to have a tumor on his liver removed. The operation is a success and follow-up blood work looks good, but it's not long until the cancer returns, more aggressively and more dangerously. Sol is given only months to live. But rather than give up on their dreams, Sol and Jenn push forward with plans to marry, helped by their friends who generously lead a fundraising campaign to make sure the couple can live their dream before fate takes their future from them.

The film was inspired by a real couple and real events -- a quick web search will reveal the details, and the movie ends with footage from the inspirational real-life wedding -- and it's an emotional ride from relational bliss to learning that life is never to be taken for granted. And that is where and why the film works. The recurring theme centers around the number of days in the average person's lifespan -- 27,000 and change -- and just what a precious gift each one is. Sometimes it takes death and fear and the specter of pain and suffering to appreciate life and joy and health and vitality. Jenn and Sol learn this lesson as does most everyone else, only realizing in the shadow of death what it means to be alive. The film doesn't have any revelations for its audience but what it does have is a tenderness and authenticity in its approach to sharing the message. The film is never crude or crass. It's well meaning and agreeable. The audience will come to love and care for the characters and even as there's an air of predictability to the story the sentimentality plays genuinely, from the heart. This is a tearjerker, and tears will likely flow in pending tragedy and in the sunrise of hope and love.

Cast is vital to a movie that asks the audience to so quickly and fully connect to the characters. In All My Life, casting is not a concern, and neither are performances. There's an easy and instant chemistry evident in and around Jenn and Sol, played by Rothe and Shum Jr. The likeability quotient is off the charts and the actors convey a true feeling for connection and the bonds of love that only grows stronger the closer the story moves to Sol's diagnosis of and battle against liver cancer. They sell every shared heartbeat and the movie would not be the same without them and certainly would not work with performances of any lesser caliber. Supporting cast work is excellent, too, and Director Marc Meyers crafts the film with capable technical wherewithal but smartly leaves his fingerprint off the movie, allowing narrative and performances to define its DNA.

All My Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All My Life's 1080p transfer isn't life changing, but maybe it's format affirming. The digitally sourced motion picture translates quite nicely to Blu-ray, bringing the picture's inherent clarity, sharpness, and rich coloring to the screen with nary a fault to be found. The image is crisp and sure, well capable of capturing every urban detail both on city streets and in various interiors -- Jenn's apartment, coffee shops, doctor's offices, hospital rooms, and the like -- with lifelike clarity and command. Skin details are well revealing and clothing fabrics are sharp in close-up. Colors are bountiful. The palette is never wanting for greater spectrum diversity and usage. All variety of colors can be found on clothes and scattered through the wide ranging environments seen throughout the film, including vibrant natural greens. Skin tones are healthy and black levels are deep. Source noise is kept in check and there are no other immediately obvious source blemishes or encode shortcomings. The picture may not register as "special" but is very faithful to its source and presents it to about best case scenario at the 1080p resolution. There's no real room for complaint. It's a winner.

All My Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All My Life's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is effectively boring, for lack of a better term. It's well capable but it's also well strict to adhering to sonic basics. Music is light and pleasing with seamless front side engagement. Surround wrap is minimal and there is no need for thunderous subwoofer support. This largely holds true for everything else, too. The track offers little in the way of dynamic, intensive sound effects. Most everything beyond music and dialogue comes in the form of natural atmosphere, sometimes very light, sometimes a little more pronounced for effect, but never to a dominating posture or presence. "Pleasing" may be a way to define barroom interiors, light city din, and other circumstantial audio supports. Dialogue is the movie's audio lifeblood, however, and it presents with perfectly fine front-center positioning. It's realistically detailed and well prioritized for the duration. Nothing special here, but nothing to mark the track as a struggle in any way, either.

All My Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Universal's Blu-ray release of All My Life contains no supplemental content. No DVD copy is included but the studio has bundled in a Movies Anywhere digital copy voucher. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

All My Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All My Life explores themes of life's limits, its constraints, and the forgettable nature of the daily grind. But all of that can change in an instant, the movie posits, so never take a single day for granted. The film explores a relationship built on heart and sincerity, selflessness and soul. It's sweet and simple if even predictable, but the genuine approach to character building and storytelling helps to hide the movie's structural one-note limits. Universal's featureless Blu-ray does deliver solid video and audio. Recommended.