Miss You Already

Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette, both on top form, play best friends in a dyed-in-the-wool British weepie that targets the tear ducts with laser precision. The friends since childhood find their bond truly put to the test when Collette is diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. TV comedy face Morwenna Banks's screenplay pulls no punches in its portrayal of the disease and its progression, which is patently why the film's release is being tied to a national breast cancer awareness campaign. In spite of its subject matter, Miss You Already is no laugh-free zone. There's plenty of humour, not all of it black. And there's much-needed positivity, too, in a parallel storyline with Barrymore finding herself pregnant after years of trying. Some "awayday" shenanigans on the Yorkshire Moors are a little off-kilter, and a "clap happy" birth sequence sits uneasily, smacking more of laugh than life. Otherwise, this is arguably the most fun you can have watching a movie about life-threatening illness.