1970s kids like me will remember 1976’s The Boy In the Bubble, a weepy TV movie melodrama that starred John Travolta. Its premise gets an update via 2017’s Everything, Everything.

Due to a disease, 18-year-old Maddy Whittier (Amanda Stenberg) can never leave the filtered protection of her home. Unsurprisingly, this leaves with isolated and lonely.

When a new family moves to her neighborhood, Maddy’s world starts to open. Initially via electronic communication, Maddy gets to know Olly Bright (Nick Robinson), the literal boy next door. They fall in love and this relationship pushes Maddy to confront her limitations.

If all that sounds sappy and sentimental, there’s a good reason: Everything presents a cloying, cutesy cinematic experience. It touches on a bundle of cheap emotional buttons without much real attachment to reality.

Which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing. Everyting exists as a tale for teen girls that offers a variation on the “impossible romance”, one in which circumstances seem to doom a relationship.

That would be well and good if Everything gave us something less dad-blasted dull. The movie spreads roughly 15 minutes of story and character development across more than 90 minutes, and it really taxes the viewer’s patience.

Neither Maddy nor Olly ever turn into anything more than vague archetypes. She’s essentially a medically-complicated version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Olly gives us a fantasy boy. Olly exists as an ideal from the teen girl POV: handsome and mildly rebellious but still super-smart, sensitive and completely devoted.

Both Stenberg and Robinson show moderate charm, but neither boasts the charisma to elevate their dull parts. They ensure that Maddy and Olly remain bland characters without much to endear them to the audience.

Perhaps to combat the ennui of the movie’s first 75 minutes, Everything delivers a plot twist that comes out of nowhere and feels borderline cruel. I won’t say more but I think it’s a cheap gimmick, as it allows the movie to have its medically fragile cake and eat it too.

Even without that abrupt left turn, Everything fails to develop into a compelling tale. Its basic story comes with moderate potential but the end result lacks charm or drama.

Everything, Everything appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Overall, this was a positive image.

On a smidgen of softness ever cropped up here, mainly in some low-light shots. Otherwise, the movie showed nice clarity and delineation. Jagged edges and moiré effects failed to appear, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also stayed away from this clean image.

In terms of palette, Everything went with mix of teal and amber. Overall, the hues were fine for their visual choices. Blacks showed good depth, while low-light shots boasted nice clarity. This was a solid “B+“ presentation.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it gave us competent sonics most of the time as well as a little pep on occasion. A romance like this didn’t need to boast a rock-em, sock-em mix, so the audio seemed acceptable. Usually, the soundfield didn’t have a lot to do; it concentrated on good stereo music and general ambience.

Every once in a while, though, the mix came to life – in a moderate manner, at least. This was especially true during ocean-based scenes. These didn’t dazzle, but they gave the mix reasonable breadth.

Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other concerns. Music appeared full, with reasonable definition. Effects remained clear and accurate, with some pretty solid low-end response during louder moments. This became a fairly satisfying track.

Trapped in Love: The Story of Everything, Everything runs five minutes, three seconds and features director Stella Meghie, author Nicola Yoon, producers Elysa Dutton and Leslie Morgenstein, and actors Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson. “Trapped” looks at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances. A few minor details emerge but this acts as little more than basic promotional fodder.

15 Deleted Scenes fill a total of 16 minutes, 15 seconds. These tend toward minor character moments. Given that the movie already feels long, these wouldn’t have made it better.

The disc opens with an ad for Pure Country Pure Heart. No trailer for Everything appears here.

A second disc presents a DVD copy of Everything. It includes the deleted scenes but not “Trapped in Love”.

A variation on the “doomed romance” genre, Everything, Everything lacks substance. The movie drags on and on without nearly enough material to sustain its 96 minutes. The Blu-ray presents very good picture as well as adequate audio and minor supplements. Perhaps the intended teen girl audience will find some merit here, but I view the film as a snoozer.