What Took Me So Long: I saw The Fault in Our Stars recently enough that there wasn't a pressing need to see something this similar, but I do like Dakota Fanning.
Why I Saw It: It's been fascinating watching Dakota Fanning grow up. She's never really taken time off since she started over a decade ago and the beats of her career haven't followed formula. I mean, she hasn't even been "rebellious". She started with I Am Sam, has done Houndog and The Runaways, but nothing to the level of Alyssa Milano or Drew Barrymore. I almost got the sense that she did this movie just because she wanted to play British and she didn't do a bad job with that. I was just happy to see Jeremy Irvine again after War Horse (a movie I think has been unfairly dismissed) and he has nice chemistry. Paddy Considine shows a greater range of emotion than I'm used to from his work in Edgar Wright movies. For anyone who is a fan of this kind of movie, it has all the things you need.
Why I Wish I Hadn't: I'm pretty tapped out on teenager cancer stories based on books. Even when the acting is solid and the emotional beats are earned (which they were in this movie), I don't have anything left unless it's doing something different. This was a solid, by the numbers story. Cancer is a very easy way to invoke carpe diem for a story about a teenager. While I love me some seizing of days, I'm more curious to see a new angle to approach it. I'm also holding a slight grudge against the movie because it's the first time that I can remember relating to the parents' perspective more than the child's and that made me feel old. Damn you Dakota Fanning! Always being younger and more successful than me.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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