[Note: Someone Like You is being distributed by Fathom Events in theaters around the country. Its initial theatrical run is slated for April 2 through April 10. More information about the movie—including the ability to “Share the Hope” by buying tickets for others—can be found at: https://www.someonelikeyou.movie/. And be sure to check out our conversation with Karen Kingsbury on this week’s episode of The Plugged In Show.]
Dawson Gage has loved London Quinn, well, practically forever.
But London—effervescent, free-spirited London—has never requited her “best friend’s” plain-for-all-to-see adoration of her.
Until, maybe, the night she realizes that maybe her lifelong best friend could be more than that. A lingering look, a handhold on the way to ice cream, a sweet smile as she gets out of Dawson’s car and starts across the street.
London never saw the truck. And the driver didn’t see her.
It’s hard to say whose heart is rent more by London’s terrible, senseless death, Dawson or London’s parents, Larry and Louise.
Tears, mourning and the bittersweet possibilities of what could have been haunt them all. The loss is amplified by the fact that London had been set to donate a kidney to Louise, who is slowly succumbing to a kidney disease that will eventually claim her, too, if no donor steps forward.
In the days that follow, a secret slips out. “We should have told her,” Louise tells her husband and Dawson.
“Told her what?” Dawson asks.
London, it turns out, was an in vitro baby.
And there was another embryo. One that Larry and Louise donated to a fertility doctor they knew, agreeing never to seek information about what happened to it.
But Dawson never made such an agreement. And, driven by his own grief and curiosity, he’s determined to find out what happened to this other embryo, this other person—London’s long-lost sibling.
It doesn’t take long. Her name is Andi Allen.
And she looks a lot like London Quinn.
If you’ve ever seen a romance movie at all, let’s just say it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know early on (London is hit by a truck in the first few minutes of the movie) where this one is going.
But the journey to that destination—spoiler warning if it’s not clear: Andi and Dawson fall in love—is one that also explores some deeper themes of forgiveness, patience and faith (the latter of which I’ll unpack more below).
Just as Louise and Larry never told London about her in vitro origins, so Andi’s parents, Jim and Jenny Allen, had never quite been able to tell their daughter the truth either. But as Andi is about to get engaged to a guy named Matt (spoiler warning No. 2: we all know that’s never going to happen), Jim keeps telling Jenny they have to get it done.
But Dawson finds Andi first (we’ll characterize his online endeavors as innocent sleuthing, not creepy stalking), and the secret is revealed.
Andi responds badly. Really badly, accusing her parents of having lived a lie for her 24 years of life. She is hurt so deeply by what she characterizes as deception that she leaves their home in Nashville and travels to Birmingham, Alabama, to find Dawson and her biological parents, Larry and Louise.
Larry and Louise receive Andi warmly, eager to facilitate her natural desire to know everything about the deceased sister she never knew she had.
Andi remains stubbornly angry at her adoptive parents, but Dawson, Larry and Louise encourage her to reconcile with them, which she eventually does.
Almost all of the characters in the film are Christians, with one fairly glaring exception: London. We eventually learn that London had hoped to be a professional dancer, but a foot injury had kept her from achieving that dream. In the wake of that event, Dawson says that London pulled away from church and from God, too. But as she lies dying in Dawson’s arms, she reassures him that she’s come back to the fold, saying, “I asked Him … to catch me.”
Before that moment, Dawson articulates the gospel to her in part, saying that grace is “God’s kindness, a new start in Jesus.” London’s hesitancy doesn’t seem to be from a lack of understanding but from struggling to trust God through her disappointment.
At London’s funeral, a friend quotes John 14, which talks of Jesus going to prepare a place for us in “My Father’s house.”
Larry plays the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul,” and Andi sings along. Andi volunteers to say grace before a meal. Jim counsels his wife and Andi’s younger sister, Amy, about the need to remain faithful in hope and prayer during their estrangement from Andi.
Dawson and Louise both gently challenge Andi to relinquish her anger at her parents and to forgive them.
A couple of camera shots show Dawson shirtless as he puts on a wetsuit before getting on a Jet Ski. London pulls her sweater over her head to likewise don a wetsuit; we briefly see (from behind) that she’s wearing a swimsuit underneath, but Dawson turns away out of modesty anyway. She playfully mocks him for his chivalry, teasing, “You were born in the wrong century, you know that?”
After Dawson and Andi eventually fall in love, they kiss passionately three or four times. Dawson admits that early on, he couldn’t look into Andi’s eyes because all he saw was London. But by the end, he assures her that he loves who Andi is, and that his love isn’t just a lingering expression of what he felt for London.
We see other married couples gently kiss and snuggle with each other.
We hear, but don’t see, a truck slamming on its brakes and hitting the horn as London is hit. After that, we see her with cuts and bruises on the ground, struggling to breathe but still conscious. Later, an ER surgeon comes out to deliver the horrible news that London’s injuries were too significant to overcome, and that she has passed.
None.
None.
The film seems aware that Dawson is perhaps transferring his love for London onto Andi pretty quickly. One of Dawson’s close friends, a guy named Carl, reminds him that London is dead and that Dawson’s attempt to find her sibling is “pretty weird.”
Andi, for her part, responds extremely negatively to learning that she is not the biological daughter of the parents who’ve lovingly raised her. She persists in that anger for most of the movie, essentially cutting off communication from her parents. And some might feel that the way Andi temporarily replaces her adoptive family with her biological family is emotionally unhealthy.
Likewise, Larry, Louise and Dawson’s embrace of Andi, at times, feels like it almost crosses a line. None of them would likely say that they’re trying to replace London with Andi, but something close to that happens for a while. That said, Dawson, Louise and Larry all ultimately encourage Andi to reconnect with the parents who raised her.
Fans of romance, and of Karen Kingsbury’s stories in particular, will likely adore this big-screen adaptation of her bestseller Someone Like You.
I can’t say with a straight face that I’m a massive fan of this genre myself, though I’ve watched more than a few broadly similar films with my wife on Hallmark and Great American Family.
That said, the faith elements here yield a story that has more spiritual depth and emotional resonance than perhaps some other films in this category. Early on, we hear a voiceover from Dawson saying, “If you love deeply, you’re going to get hurt badly. But it’s still worth it.”
We see that proverbial wisdom play out onscreen, and not just in Dawson and Andi’s budding romance.
Andi’s father, Jim, repeatedly and wisely counsels both giving his daughter space and trusting God to bring her back, too. We glimpse the agony of two sets of parents who have, in different ways, lost their daughters—one to a tragic death, one to a temporary gulf of estrangement. And we watch as both couples struggle deeply to trust God with the ache of what’s happened.
The happy ending here is, in all likelihood, a forgone conclusion. But the meandering path that the characters take to get there might inspire some questions for those who see the film, questions like: How do we trust God with tragedy? What does it take to forgive those who’ve hurt or deceived us?
As noted above, a few moments in Dawson’s pursuit of Andi feel slightly uncomfortable or “weird,” as his friend, Carl, says. But apart from a lingering kiss or two, as well as London’s scratched face after her fatal accident, there aren’t any content concerns that would hinder anyone’s ability to enjoy this romantic story.
And—true confession here—I did enjoy it. I liked the characters, and I wanted to know how it was going to wrap up in a satisfying manner. I even *sniff* teared up a bit at the end.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
