Does Lifetime know that one of its films got away?
The new Drew Barrymore/Toni Collette movie “Miss You Already” follows two lifelong BFFs, chronicling their lives as one is diagnosed with cancer and the other is having everything going right in her life.
Collette’s Milly was the crazy party girl who married a roadie (Dominic Cooper) and started a family. Barrymore’s Jess was the safe type, secure in being auntie Jess to Milly’s kids. As Jess finally gets her life going in a good direction — gets married and pregnant — Milly learns she has cancer.
The Big C is a difficult topic to discuss, done mostly in hushed tones. It dramatically changes the relationships of all the characters here, showing how one person’s affliction can affect everything, from Milly’s children to Jess’ marriage.
Obviously, this is a difficult topic for any form of entertainment to tackle, but this movie comes off in the mawkish made-for-TV model.
For anyone who is unfortunate enough to have experienced the tragedy of cancer, watching someone on screen disintegrate from the disease is too much to bear. And if you’ve luckily never dealt with that misfortune, why would you want to?
