Beaches 2 or something more? Maybe somewhere in between.  Miss You Already tells the story of two lifelong best friends who have been there for each other at every instance of their lives. Jess (Drew Barrymore – Charlie’s Angels, The Wedding Singer) and Milly (Toni Collette – The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine) have been nearly inseparable since Jess transferred into Milly’s first-grade class in London after moving from the United States. Now, as the pair each approaches her 40th birthday, they are infused with a situation that no one can ever prepare for. Yes, this is both a friendship movie and a cancer movie. Yes, it will do its best to try to guilt you into tears. But, while the acting is not great and the story predictable, something about the movie keeps you interested when a lesser movie would have lost you completely 45 minutes in.

This is the tenth movie that Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) has directed, and this is, by far, her most weepy. I haven’t seen all of her movies, but she seems to be a director who refuses to be defined by a single theme after looking at her filmography. Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown are both movies that need to be watched once. You’d probably be as surprised as me to learn that this same person also directed films like Twilight, The Nativity Story, and Plush. Her adaptation of first-time screenwriter Morwenna Banks’ script is admirable. How this film succeeded as a theater release rather than a direct-to-DVD or, worse, a Lifetime movie is not because of the two leads or because of the story. It’s because of Hardwicke’s ability to keep us interested each time we are ready to dismiss it.

Milly is a loose cannon. She is selfish and impulsive. But, she really likes having fun. Highly successful at a job of her own, her lifestyle is enhanced by her highly successful husband Kit (Dominic Cooper – My Week With Marilyn, An Education), a former rock singer who lived a rock star lifestyle and impregnated Milly backstage at one of his concerts. Long story short, the two who never would have met for a second time decide to try a life together for the sake of the baby. It turns out to be a pretty solid marriage. Until she gets diagnosed with breast cancer…

Jess, meanwhile, is more even-tempered. She can be relied upon. At times, she is more of a big sister than a best friend. She’s considerate and always looking out for Milly. But she has issues of her own. She’s doing her best to make a baby with her husband Jago (Paddy Considine – Pride, The Bourne Ultimatum). Unfortunately, they have been unsuccessful, and that has put a strain on their marriage. At the same time, it seems like Milly and Kit are living the good life, Jess and Jago’s are living paycheck to paycheck. In need of more money to get assistance with fertilization, Jago takes an assignment to go out to see and work on an oil rig.

After her diagnosis, chemotherapy, and mastectomy, Milly is at a loss. Everything she knows has, obviously, changed, including her relationship with Kit. She spirals out of control emotionally while deteriorating physically. She turns to her best friend to help her through things, but, just like all things cancer, the only thing you can predict is the unpredictability of the disease. It takes its toll on the friendship, but it still follows a path of movie familiarity. Barrymore and Collette do overact at times, and this takes away from the flow of the movie. There are times where it definitely feels like this is a movie. Still, at other times you are wrapped up in Collette’s ability to portray Milly as a dying woman trying who first acts out and then goes through a massive bout with depression before ultimately accepting her fate and trying to make amends with everyone important to her.

I thought Miss You already did an excellent job in terms of the onset and subsequent sickness spreading. Due diligence was paid by all involved with this movie. I think those who have had cancer or have lost someone close to it would agree that this was very honest and respectful of the illness. Milly goes through the gamut of emotions one would experience when being diagnosed with cancer. She expresses shock, disbelief, fear, anxiety, guilt, sadness, grief, depression, anger, and other emotions. Unfortunately, Milly acts out and hurts the people who are most important to her. Jess uses a term that I’ve never heard before. After looking it up online, she calls Milly a “cancer bully,” which doesn’t appear to be a mainstream term. I’ve lost three people very, very close to me to cancer, and all three of them carried themselves with such dignity, pride, and kindness during their terminal illness that I rarely got to see the emotions experienced by Milly. I am positive all three of them were fearful, angry, and depressed, but each of them hid many of these emotions from others and wanted to present a front that was full of positivity and love. I have such wonderful lasting memories of my grandmother, brother-in-law, and one of my best friends and will never forget how kind and loving they were to all those around them throughout their sickness. I have so much admiration for how they handled a situation that they had no control over. I feel as if I was struck with a terminal illness, I would leave this world a furious man. I have such admiration for my Grandma Lois, Jeremy, and Mike.

This was a realistic movie that covered a lot of ground in 1 hour and 52 minutes. It never dragged and, as mentioned a couple of times, when you felt like it was going to take a turn towards the teary or towards the predictable, it veered away and kept you interested and, thus, kept it far more watchable than some cheesy Lifetime movie. Nonetheless, this will hit a little too close to home for a lot of people. I remember really enjoying the movie 50/50 while my sister said that she might have liked it if her husband wasn’t fighting cancer during that time. And I totally get that. A movie labeled as a “cancer comedy” is a tough sell in this day and age. There is no cure for this disease, so it’s far easier to joke about this on a set where the actors playing the characters can leave the set at the end of the day and continue living their everyday lives. The part of this movie that I felt was inconsistent with everything else happening was that just about each time Milly was at the doctor’s office getting news about her illness, she was alone. She didn’t have her husband, mother, or Jess with her. This seemed particularly strange since the movie was based upon the friendship between Milly and Jess.

Overall, this movie is worth checking out via Netflix. Don’t expect to love it. It is definitely an easier watch if you haven’t dealt with someone close to you having cancer. Likewise, if you want to learn more about the human aspect of this disease and how it can affect a person physically and emotionally and those closest to her, this could be the film to watch.

Plot 8/10 (it’s a movie about friendship, and it’s a movie about cancer. It does both well, but neither great)
Character Development 8.5/10 (Despite times where there is way too much overacting, the development of the characters…especially Milly and husband Kit is well done)
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 7/10 (Barrymore and Collette both overact…at times, it is brutally awful…especially Barrymore)
Screenplay 8/10 (sappy)
Directing  8.5/10 (Hardwicke holds this thing together when it could have fractured in many different ways)
Cinematography 8.5/10 (in all honesty, the scenes in hospice felt all too familiar…the filming of these scenes brought some of the most painful memories of my life back…the shooting of this film never makes me feel London though…however, the physical deterioration of Milly is very well done)
Sound 7/10 (don’t get me started on the REM “Losing My Religion” scene…)
Hook and Reel 8/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
79.5%