Já Estou com Saudades

While the theatrical poster for "Miss You Already" may look suspiciously like "The Fault in Our Stars," I can assure you the former is a much more pleasant and believable affair than the latter. Featuring two actresses that aren't always the first to come to consumers' minds for their wide-variety of roles and breezy charisma, unfairly so in my mind, Catherine Hardwicke's "Miss You Already," another film about the perils of terminal cancer on everyone from the patient to the family, manages to pull just enough strings with its solid cast and melodrama to make you forget it's occasionally pulling your heart strings.

The film follows two best friends, Milly (Toni Collette) and Jess (Drew Barrymore), who have been best friends ever since Jess and her family moved overseas to England when she was a young girl. They've been inseparable since, and even different circumstances plaguing one another - Milly with her husband Kit (Dominic Cooper) and their two young children and Jess with her husband Jago (Paddy Considine) trying to conceive a kid - they still manage to remain as close as they were when they were young.

Life's ultimate challenge hits them hard when Milly reveals she is suffering from potentially terminal cancer. As she undergoes chemotherapy and experiences all of cancer's hardships - weakness, hair loss, fatigue, and emptiness - she looks to her best friend Jess not only as a poll to lean on, but one to assist her and support her in her time of need.

At first, audience members can't help but feel bad for Milly; she seems like a well-meaning soul, one who at least didn't deserve this ugly fate. It isn't until her true colors come out during this fatal bout of sickness that we realize the kind of person she is. For starters, she loves to take advantage of Jess's kindness, to the point where Jago understandably lectures Jess about how Milly is making them "put their marriage on hold" while she attends to the needs of her best friend. Very seldom do we hear a "thank you" come from Milly or a sincere recognition of Jess's persistent kindness, like sitting beside her bed when she vomits or picking out a wig for her. On top of that, Milly also winds up cheating on Kip for a young bartender, which she justifies because Kip doesn't even look at her any more nor has any interest in having sex with her.

Screenwriter Morwenna Banks at least has Milly, herself, and Jess recognize her uglier traits in the film, which is more that could be said about other female characters in film this year that have exhibited seriously contemptible traits, like Amy Schumer's Amy in "Trainwreck" or even Cara Delevingne's Margot in "Paper Towns." If you can overlook how terrible Milly is as a person when her cancer begins to worsen, or at least can appreciate how the film doesn't sweep her more unlikable traits under the rug by supporting her feeble arguments and justifications for cheating, then "Miss You Already" becomes less an anti-character study, as I call them, and more an appreciation for find acting and melodrama.

As imperfect as this film is, it's a serious footnote for film right now because isn't this the kind of film audiences like to say they want? In the mix of a summer filled with blockbusters nine-figure budgets, Marvel franchises starting, rebooting, and continuing, and other bombastic nonsense, don't we hear a cry for adult dramas quite frequently? The end of 2015 has proved to deliver more than enough adult dramas to sustain a calendar year, effectively saturating the marketplace, which is a whole other issue, but this is precisely the kind of film I see people demanding but those same people forgetting to look at the local theater listings to see what is out this weekend. "Miss You Already" may not be a great film, but it's good enough to warrant a recommendation thanks to committed and thoroughly watchable chemistry from Collette and Barrymore, who show us throughout the film why we love watching them in movies. It's also another acceptable cancer drama in a way that doesn't evoke cheap pathos like "Freeheld," despite lacking the political conversation, at the same time doesn't effectively hit the more sentimental notes successfully like the soul-crushing "50/50" did in 2011.

"Miss You Already" is an enjoyable film that grounds itself in humanity and character relations long enough to distract and hinder the on-sight arrival of emotional manipulation. It's the kind of film, again, that we say we want, but rarely see; so in a crowded marketplace that will largely be stomped on by the likes of "Spectre," being seen by the parents, and "The Peanuts Movie," largely being seen by the kids, here's a low-key film that demands your attention just as well.

This is the archetypal woman's film - but there's nothing wrong with that, with far too few opportunities for women in the key roles in movie-making. So women fill the slots of scriptwriter (the British Morwenna Banks), director (American Catherine Hardwicke) and the two top acting positions (Australian Toni Collette and American Drew Barrymore).

And the subject material is feminine too: breast cancer, infertility, and female friendship. Like "The Fault In Our Stars", this is a frank exposition of what it is like to suffer cancer - in this case, with chemotherapy and its attendant sickness, tiredness and hair loss followed by headaches, vision loss, and pain.

It sounds tough and it is - one the saddest film I've seen in a long while - but there is humour and warmth and superior acting which make it worth viewing this real slice of life. After all, most of us of a certain age have had relatives or friends who have suffered one form of cancer or another, some surviving, some not.

Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette) are lifelong friends from childhood. Jess was an American girl fish-out-of-water in England and Milly was the only one who befriended her. Milly's mother Miranda (Jacqueline Bisset) is an often-absent flaky actress. The girls did everything together. Milly has famed rocker husband Kit (Dominic Cooper), a high powered job, and two kids. Jess lives on a boat with Jago (Paddy Considine) desperately trying to get pregnant. The couple's money is drained and Jago has to work on a North Sea oil rig. Then Milly is diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer.

This is solid female friendship material. The breast cancer story has its melodramatic touches but it doesn't go overboard. There are enough surprises to keep it fresh. Director Catherine Hardwicke could have made this tighter. Through it all, Barrymore and Collette create a believable best friends duo. Collette especially shines. In the pantheon of female best friends with cancer, this is one of the better ones.

Greeting my friends. I've rated this movie with an 8. It wasn't a big production, it wasn't fancy, it wasn't based on a biography (at last!), it was based on real life events something that unfortunately many of us have experienced in our own families. Great acting. Greatly approached. Good sense of humor, at the right place at the right time. Cancer is a taboo word, we are afraid to say it we are afraid to think about it and we surely do not know how to cope with it. In my opinion the film industry doesn't appreciate enough good movies like that particular one in fear of upsetting people. As far as Toni Collette is concerned she was great, one of the best female performances of her career and I believe she should have been considered for a nomination for the Oscar awards.

She and Drew Barrymore made a perfect match. Haven't seen something like that since Terms Of Endearment with Debra Winger.

Interesting to see that another reviewer compared this to 50/50. In many regards that is, one of them being that 50/50 does seem to get the recognition it deserves (even only in small degrees). Another interesting this is the German title for this movie: In heaven everyone is wearing high heels. Whatever that is supposed to mean.

Overall the movie is pretty engaging and the main actresses have a good chemistry together. For the subject matter it is kept pretty light, which you'll either appreciate or hate. Judging from the rating more people are on the love side. That doesn't mean it's always easy to watch and some may say this could've been a TV drama of the week kind of thing. But that would be unfair to the people involved, all of whom are doing a good job here.