10s Movie Review - Miss You Already

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette, Paddy Considine, Dominic Cooper

Description: The friendship between two life-long girlfriends, Milly (Toni Collette) and Jess (Drew Barrymore), is put to the test when one starts a family and the other falls ill.

Review: Few manage to elicit as many tears as a film in which someone is diagnosed with cancer and, after a long fight and emotional goodbye, suffers. Think of “Terms of Endearment”, “My Sister’s Keeper” and “The Fault on Our Stars”. In “Miss You Already”, we deal with two best friends, one of whom is told of the dreaded diagnosis early in the film.
The two inseparable friends, Milly and Jess, have been friends since elementary school. An opening montage shows us how their friendship started and what they have been up to together. After this we see Milly visiting her doctor and is told the bad news. She gets sich from the chemo, needs surgery. While Milly faces this disease and potentially leaving her husband and children behind, Jess is busy starting a family of her own and building a life with her husband. For years she was there for Milly and was part of her life, now she is finally at the point where she can build those things for herself. Jess is trying to find a balance between being there for her friend and living her own life, something that isn’t easy.
“Miss You Already” tries to show the disease process and its impact on relationships in a raw way. Thanks to Toni Collette’s good acting as Milly, it certainly succeeds. A great moment is when Milly shows her friend the scars from the mastectomy. It is fully portrayed and that is quite shocking, but at the same time real as so many women have experienced that moment. It also tries to paint an honest picture of the relationship between best friends, who have become dependent on each other. The men in their lives sometimes seem to take second place, which is well played by male supporting roles of Dominic Cooper and Paddy Considine.
Less successful is the unsympathetic side of Milly. In the opening montage, you can see that se used to lead a free life, be a good mother and a heartthrob with whom Jess had countless great nights out.  But from the moment of diagnosis and insufferable narcissist emerges, who expects her friend to constantly drop everything to be there for her. She also cheats on her husband because he has trouble dealing with her changed body (and the psychological aspects that go with it) and she is angry at everything and everyone around her. Pleasant is different and because of this you miss the connection with Milly. Not unimportant within this genre.
With many of these films you sometimes have to wipe away the tears or unexpectedly rush through a whole box of tissues, but that is not the case with “Miss You Already”. There is certainly an attempt to move the viewer, especially towards the end, but by that time you feel Milly’s death may have put an end to Jess’ life as a doormat, especially since Drew Barrymore knows how to portray the character warmly. Ultimately, this makes it really nothing more than a drama about the raw effects of getting cancer, without the much-needed heartwarming (and therefore emotional element) needed to move you.

Rating: 2,5 / 5