Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The In Between’ On Paramount+, A Contemporary Riff on ‘Ghost’ Starring Joey King

In The In Between, now streaming on Paramount+, a teen girl finds herself wondering if her dead boyfriend is trying to contact her from the beyond following a fatal car accident. Joey King, fresh off the end of The Kissing Booth trilogy, embraces her teen romance background and steps into the shoes of an aspiring photographer who sees her whole life change after one tragic night. We’re here to let you know if this beyond-the-grave romance is worth streaming this Valentine’s Day weekend. 

THE IN BETWEEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The In Between opens with with a David Foster Wallace quote: “every love story is a ghost story.” This is seemingly what happens to Tessa (Joey King) following a fatal car accident that claims the life of her boyfriend Skylar (Kyle Allen) and leaves her with a (literally) broken heart. Her destroyed phone inexplicably turns on and shows a photo sent to her by Skylar, and she feels his presence at the hospital. Another fellow patient tries to tell her about ADC – “after death communication” – and believes that Skylar might be reaching out to her from “the in between”, where he’ll only be for a short time before he’s gone forever, but Tessa tries to brush it off and checks out of the hospital.

In flashbacks, we watch Tessa and Skylar’s whirlwind romance develop over a summer; they first meet at a screening of Betty Blue, where Skylar translates the French to her when no subtitles appear on screen, and they find their way back to each other when she happens to photograph a crew meet he’s competing in. From there, they can’t get enough of one another, even though Tessa is scared of how much she likes him. The two fall hard and fast and treat each other with love and care, which makes Tessa’s loneliness and grief at present feel all the heavier. She has the support of her parents (Kim Dickens and John Ortiz) and her best friend (Celeste O’Connor), who try to help her heal, but she can’t shake the feeling that she needs to do something to be with Skylar again. As she continues to experience what feels like Skylar’s attempts at reaching out to her, Tessa must make a life-altering decision before it’s too late.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The obvious comparison here is Ghost, but The In Between may also remind you of The Invisible, Twilight, Before I Fall, and Endless. 

Performance Worth Watching: Kyle Allen, who charmed in The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, is dreamy as ever here, quickly proving that he needs to be a romcom leading man stat. He might not get as much to do in The In Between as King does, but he’s easy to fall for, full of a natural charisma that makes him so much fun to watch. He’s got this dreamy young David Duchovny energy (hello, Return to Me). How can you look away?! With a role in Spielberg’s West Side Story under his belt and a handful of interesting projects in the pipeline, we’re luckily going to be seeing a lot more of Allen in the future.

Memorable Dialogue: The dialogue in The In Between is cringe-inducing stuff, even when the movie thinks it’s being profound. Nothing particularly memorable here.

Sex and Skin: Some tastefully shot lakeside lovemakin’. 

Our Take: There isn’t a subtle bone in The In Between‘s body. When we meet Tessa, the first thing we learn about her is that her heart ruptured in the car accident that killed her boyfriend. Yup, she is literally suffering from a broken heart. In flashbacks, her parents make comments about how she’s “always hiding behind that camera” and she only sticks around to watch Betty Blue with Skylar when she finds out it doesn’t have a happy ending, because she doesn’t believe love stories are supposed to. Skylar refers to the two of them as “analog” because they’re not on social media and enjoy seeing old movies and listening to cassettes. It’s cheesy stuff, but there’s admittedly some solid chemistry between King and Allen, an adorable couple who do manage to weasel their way into our hearts so that their tragic fate carries the emotional weight it needs to. And there’s a nice reversal of typical roles as Skylar proves himself to be the romantic in the pair, while Tessa battles some darkness. Unfortunately, however, the story that they’re given to work with doesn’t measure up to the strength of the performers.

The In Between obviously wants to be a Gen Z take on Ghost, but it doesn’t really know how to get there. There aren’t any clear rules about Skylar’s communication from beyond the grave, and even the film’s attempts at trying to illuminate what’s going on aren’t quite able to help us out. To top it all off – spoiler alert – the film also shamelessly romanticizes Tessa’s desire to end her life to be with Skylar, which feels exhausted at this point. In a better movie, Tessa would be more fleshed out and independent, and The In Between might have given more priority to the pre-crash love story. (It’s vastly more interesting than all the supernatural stuff). Sadly, we’re left with something, well, in between a good film and a bad one; a muddled, occasionally captivating mess than isn’t quite sure what movie it wants to be.

Our Call: SKIP IT. King delivers a strong performance, but The In Between is a mess, an overlong, soapy effort that romanticizes some extremely troubling themes.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream The In Between on Paramount+