Right now, there aren’t many actors in Hollywood who are hotter than Jeremy Allen White. His rise has been a steady one, and he seems to be at his peak right now. Most audience members were first introduced to White thanks to his role as Lip Gallagher for all 11 seasons of Shameless, spanning about a decade of his life. Just a year after that series concluded, White landed another huge role, starring as the protagonist, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, on The Bear.
Hulu’s original series The Bear has become one of the most popular and most acclaimed on television. It has earned White two Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes for his performance, cementing him as one of the top actors in all of TV. The show’s fame has also only grown with each passing season and 2026 sees the arrival of the fifth and final season. Anticipation is high, including for Jeremy Allen White’s next great performance.
However, before The Bear season arrives on June 25, 2026, a little film starring White from 2018 has found itself trending on Netflix’s streaming charts. The indie movie has attracted an entirely new audience who is out to see more of White’s acting and they’re in for a treat with After Everything.
After Everything Is A Great Comedy-Drama
After Everything is a hidden gem that should be watched by any fan of Jeremy Allen White. The film sits firmly in the comedy-drama genre, though it leans much more into the drama than the laughs. White stars as Elliott, a man in his 20s who lives a carefree life in New York City. He meets and falls for a woman named Mia, who can change everything, yet he also gets diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer at the same time, throwing everything for a loop.
Although romance blossoms between the two, Elliott and Mia find various struggles in their relationship that stem from much more than just his illness. The movie was made on a small budget and premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in 2018, where it received strong reviews. Upon its wide release, After Everything continued to get high praise, resulting in an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the main praise going to the heavy emotional moments and the performances of its lead actors.
Jeremy Allen White’s Performance Is One Of His Best
That positive reception for the acting starts with Jeremy Allen White as Elliott. This is a different kind of character for White, as before his cancer diagnosis, Elliott was a brash man without all that many problems. White has notoriously been at his best when playing a character with a lot of demons. For starters, Lip Gallagher was a genius who could’ve had a bright future but his family problems, struggles with alcoholism, and his own stubbornness often got in the way.
White was remarkable at playing Lip, showcasing every complicated layer of this person. You rooted for Lip, yet you were also constantly frustrated by him. On The Bear, White has won his Emmys and Golden Globes for his portrayal of another troubled character. Carmy struggles mightily with the death of his brother, the substance abuse issues of his family members, past trauma from his former boss, and, most often, the everyday pressures of trying to succeed as a chef.
Elliott doesn’t have those things to deal with. Life is mostly good for him until the diagnosis changes things, which allows us to see White give us a different kind of portrayal. He is great in the scenes that don’t specifically involve his illness and it’s almost rare to see him play a relatively happy character. Even his turn as Bruce Springsteen in the musician’s biopic dealt with some of the heavier things the artist felt.
While Elliott is a different type of character for White to play, his performance ranks up there among his best. Watching him struggle with his illness is captivating and White makes sure you feel every emotion alongside him. He’s also great in the romantic scenes, since that’s such a huge element of the movie, as the relationship between Elliott and Mia feels believable.
The Cast Of After Everything Is Great
As great as Jeremy Allen White is as an actor, it takes two performers to make an on-screen romance work. Thankfully, White had a great partner for that, as Maika Monroe is enthralling as Mia. The two are incredibly engaging as we watch them fall for each other and even more when they start to complete aspects of Elliott’s bucket list. Watching her stand by him as he reveals his diagnosis to his partners and goes through chemo is heartfelt and Monroe’s performance is a huge part of that.
Maika Monroe is a very underrated actor who has mostly stood out in horror films like It Follows, Longlegs, and Watcher. After Everything gets to be something a bit different for her as well, and like White, she’s fantastic in it. However, the movie’s strong cast goes beyond White and Monroe, as the rest of the supporting players are strong actors. For starters, Mia’s mother is played by the legendary Gina Gershon and that’s just the start of this talented supporting cast.
After Everything also features notable names like Joe Keery, who famously played Steve for all five seasons of Stranger Things, and Marisa Tomei, one of the most versatile and respected actors around who also happens to have an Academy Award to her name. There’s also Sendhil Ramamurthy (Never Have I Ever, Heroes), Sasha Lane (How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Loki), Callie Thorne (The Wire, Necessary Roughness), Dean Winters (30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dexter), and Bill Sage (American Psycho, We Are What We Are).
It’s an impressive and varied bunch of versatile actors who ensure that every scene of the movie features quality acting. These supporting players, along with the great work from Jeremy Allen White and Maika Monroe in the lead roles, allow After Everything to shine as one of the most underrated films of the past decade and it’s a must-see project now that it’s a hit on Netflix. It’s the perfect watch before The Bear season 5 arrives.
- Release Date
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October 12, 2018
- Runtime
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95 minutes
- Director
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Hannah Marks
- Producers
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Jon Keeyes, Ash Christian, Jordan Yale Levine, Sean Glover, Zhu Di, Brian O’Shea, Michael J. Rothstein, Jordan Beckerman, Brian M. Cohen, Roz Rothstein, Stephen Braun
