‘Me Before You’ is good for a good cry

Starring Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and Charles Dance. Directed by Thea Sharrock.

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some suggestive material. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 50 minutes.

Bottom line: Sugar-coated romantic film with a bite

Some people just like to cry at the movies. If you are one of those people, then chances are you will enjoy “Me Before You.” And you will undoubtedly get a bit teary.

“Me Before You” has been adapted for the screen by Jojo Moyes (“One Plus One,” “The Girl You Left Behind” and “Me Before You’s” sequel, “After You”) from her bestselling novel, and so the screenplay is faithful to the source material, with necessary omissions. Despite the amusing bits (and there are many), despite the budding ardor (predictable and crowd-pleasing), despite the rarely seen and irresistible smile of Emilia Clarke (who is not allowed moments of levity as the formidable Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, on “Game of Thrones”), “Me Before You” is a juicy, ripe red apple of a romance with a razor blade embedded under its skin.

Clarke plays the good-hearted but unambitious Louisa Clark, who lives at home in an English village with her family and helps her working-class parents with the rent. When Lou loses her job at a bakery that’s closing, she applies for a well-paying post as a companion to wealthy, handsome and bitter quadriplegic Will Traynor (Sam Claflin, the charismatic Finnick Odair of “The Hunger Games”). Lou does not know how to take care of a quadriplegic but learns quickly she’s not expected to: There’s a nurse for that. Will’s tense mother (Janet McTeer) stresses two things: That Lou is there to keep the once-active Will company and to never, ever leave him alone for more than a few minutes.

First, naturally, there’s distrust on his part and frustration on hers. Gradually, though, they do what people tend to do when they’re thrown together for long periods of time: they soften toward each other. Then Lou discovers Will’s real plan — he is determined to commit legal suicide in Sweden. What else can she do but vow to show him a life with her is worth living no matter the constraints?

Clarke, who’s almost unrecognizable here, is a large part of what makes the film as engaging as it is; seeing her as the sartorially adventurous Lou, wearing spotted pumps, a fuzzy orange sweater and a wide grin, is startling and weirdly mesmerizing. Claflin is an appealing leading man, and the rest of the cast is a Who’s Who of Popular British Actors.

“Me Before You” is a sugar-coated romantic bauble, not a gritty documentary. Giving into its pleasures is not for everyone, but its message — live boldly, as the movie’s hashtag encourages — is an admonition that’s awfully hard to argue.