Dawson has always been in love with London (Sarah Fisher), and although she loves him as a friend, she has told him many times there will never be anything more between them. He’s torn between hoping for more and trying to accept the truth, even though he knows that although they have things in common, their beliefs and hopes for the future are very different.
Andi Allen (Sarah Fisher) has an exciting new job and a fiancé. When Dawson (Jake Allyn) walks into her life to ask about her older sister, London, she believes he has the wrong person. The only sister Andi has is a younger one, named Amy. She confronts her parents, who realize they should have told her years earlier that she was conceived through IVF from a donor.
Dawson only learned a few weeks earlier himself — when London tragically died in an accident — that she was born through IVF from an egg from her mother Louise. They’d fertilized two eggs, but when they discovered that Louise’s health wouldn’t allow her to have another baby, she and her husband Larry gave away the other embryo. London’s parents don’t know if the embryo went to full term, or what gender it was. Even though they’d prefer to leave things as they are, Dawson is driven to find London’s sibling.
Angry about being left in the dark by her parents, Andi leaves home in order to meet her biological parents. And that’s how the second part of this story, which has a number of twists and turns, begins.
Filmed in Tennessee and Alabama, the locales for this movie, which was shot in late summer and autumn as the leaves were turning, are stunning. Dawson and London live on a lake, where they often go jet skiing. Andi works at a beautiful, forested zoological garden in Nashville, where she interacts with a number of species.
Playing Andi’s parents are real life couple Robin Lively and Bart Johnson (Zac Efron’s dad in the High School Musical movies). Their heartbreak when they realize that they’ve kept Andi’s beginnings from her for too long is heart-wrenching. Lynn Collins, who portrays London’s mother, Louise Quinn, plays her with strength – not only did she lose her daughter, but she is losing her own battle with kidney disease, and she doesn’t want anyone to risk their life to save hers. Scott Reeves plays Larry Quinn — the rock that keeps his marriage together, even in the face of tragedy.
Sarah Fisher, whom many may remember from her starring role as Becky Baker on the Canadian TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation, takes on two roles and manages to keep them very different. Although the girls are almost twins, Fisher makes sure to depict them with different mannerisms and movements, so the audience is never confused.
Jake Allyn, familiar to Karen Kingsbury fans from his role in the new Prime Video series The Baxters, also based on her novels, plays Dawson with a variety of emotions, as he goes from longing, to grief, then acceptance and hope.
The entire cast has been well chosen, and the story is one that keeps your interest. Even when it seems as if it may be heading towards being slightly predictable, it leaves you guessing right to the end.
This romantic drama has a wonderful assortment of action, adventure, emotion and mystery to keep audiences entertained throughout — and the feel-good story will lift your spirits.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Someone Like You debuts April 2 in U.S. theaters, and on April 4 in Canada.
If you have seen Someone Like You and would like to rate/review it yourself, click here.
Watch our interview with Jake Allyn and Sarah Fisher below.