Miss You Already (2015)

A publicist (Toni Collette) and an environmentalist (Drew Barrymore) have been best friends since childhood. When one of them gets breast cancer, their friendship is put to the test. Based on the novel GOODBYE by Morwenna Banks and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (TWILIGHT). This is a surprisingly effective drama that manages to bypass the pitfalls of a "chick flick" turning mawkish. BEACHES, this is not. It's probably due to having a female director and writer that the film focuses on the reality of breast cancer and a lot of the movie is pretty graphic in that area and it's not always an easy watch. Collette's cancer victim isn't some poor thing, Barrymore even calls her a "cancer bully". Collette and Barrymore have a nice chemistry together and you can believe that they are really friends. If your eyes tear up at the film's ending, it's not because you've been manipulated by the film makers but because you've seen the devastation of how cancer can almost destroy a family and how resilience and true friendship can make that bridge easier to cross. To counteract any possible sentimentality, the film is laced with some sardonic humor and every time it seems the movie is veering that way, the actresses pull it back. There's a nice turn by Jacqueline Bisset as Collette's vain actress mother, the film could have used more of her. With Dominic Cooper, Frances De La Tour and Paddy Considine.