"How could the tumor have gotten so big? It's aggressive, like you. Jesus. Well, is it contained? In my body, yes. You should have gone back sooner. Yeah, thanks. Hadn't figured that out. "

I'm not really a fan of tragicomic films with a terminal illness as a main topic. And yet I'm always impressed after accidentally watching such a movie. That was the case with "Philadelphia", starring the overwhelming Tom Hanks who was diagnosed with AIDS. In "Still Alice" Julianne Moore starred as the with Alzheimer stricken Alice. And not so long ago, I praised "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl". Also "Miss you already" kept me captivated. Especially by the stunning interaction between the two protagonists Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette). Two best friends who shared every milestone in their life with each other. An inseparable duo. They know each other thoroughly. Both their negative and their positive sides. And they succeeded as actresses to give me that feeling that they really knew each other since their childhood. A bond they created over the years whereby they intuitively know how the other feels, what she thinks and how she'll react. That's why there's this liberty to respond humorously to dramatic moments.

For me this was the main theme of this dramatic comedy. Even though tragedy hit Milly in a profound and poignant way, it's that undestroyable friendship that emerges every time. The two inseparable friends with each their own personal problems. Milly suffers from something she would be better off without. Jess and her husband are craving for something else. Milly wants to be cured from cancer. Jess has a desire to have children. Of course it's not so obvious to resolve both problems quickly. I was amazed about the fact that both ladies had a problem telling each other about these major events, although they are so close friends and shared everything with each other. And still do. Weird.

Obviously this film will be regarded as a typical chick flick, with lots of unconstrained sniveling and sobbing. The themes are also women-related : giving birth (by the way, that scene was grossly exaggerated),best girlfriends for life, breast cancer, a disturbed positive self-image with the usual sexual problems after wards. It also could have been the opposite, in my opinion. In such a way that the male portion of the world could relate to it. Two male protagonists and real "buddies for life". One of them has testicular cancer and the other one has spermatozoa of poor quality. Same concept. But with less giggles.

The only remark you could have about this film is that the obvious clichés, associated with these emotional issues, aren't avoided very well as in "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl". The two protagonists were sublime, although for me Barrymore will always be that little girl who played along with "E.T.". Perhaps both husbands Jago (Paddy Considine) and Kit (Dominic Cooper) played a minor role, but nonetheless an important one. Especially Considine was brilliant with that sarcastic, dry humor he used sometimes. I never imagined that seeing how someone vomits in a salad bowl, because of chemotherapy, would be sinister and comical at the same time. "Miss you already" isn't exactly a light-hearted film and definitely isn't suitable as entertainment to kill (sorry) a Sunday afternoon, but it still made an overwhelming impression on me. And although I thought I knew how it would end, it still was different than I expected. Women! Always against the grain ...

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

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.

The two leading actresses were getting about on the chat shows and so on to promote this new film, and it was getting positive reviews, I was looking forward to seeing what this film had to offer in the subject tackled, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, Twilight, Red Riding Hood). Basically Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette) have been best friends ever since childhood, and have shared everything since, from secret, clothes, laughs, substances and even boyfriends, it was their differences that drew them together, they have had to become more mature and develop individual lives as adults, but that does not stop them having fun. Milly has a successful high-flying career and lives in a beautiful townhouse with rock star husband Kit (Dominic Cooper) and their two children, Scarlett (Honor Kneafsey) and Ben (Ryan Lennon); Jess works in a community garden and lives in a houseboat with her boyfriend Jago (The Bourne Ultimatum's Paddy Considine),they desperately want a baby together. The friendship between Jess and Milly is truly tested when Milly is given life changing news, after a checkup with doctors she is told that she has breast cancer, so she needs Jess's support now more than ever, but she has to balance her own life as well. Milly starts to go through chemotherapy, meaning the loss of her hair, and she also has an operation that will hopefully remove the cancerous tumour in her breast and stop it returning, this also means reconstructive surgery for her breast tissue, Jess does support and see Milly as much as she can. Jess is overjoyed when she is finally pregnant, then she is shocked to discover, when travelling with her to a hotel in the mountain countryside, that Milly has been having an affair with waiter Ace (Tyson Ritter),Jess upset storms off, and has a little fall that later may cause complications for her pregnancy. Milly's cancer treatment has been unsuccessful and it is unclear how much longer she has to live, she is able to make it up with Jess, and when it comes time for Jess to give birth to her first child her best friend is determined to get to the hospital to witness it, with the help of her actress mother Miranda (The Deep's Jacqueline Bisset),Jago meanwhile is forced to work on a rig and watch the birth through a live internet feed. In the end Jess is with Milly in her final moments of life in a hospice, she promises her best friend that she will care for her children and to find happiness, Milly dies, but her spirit remains with Jess in the form of her mischievous daughter, and life goes on. Also starring Vicious's Frances de la Tour as Jill and Mem Ferda as Ahmed. Barrymore and Collette are brilliant as the best friends challenged by the highs and lows of life and with one facing a life-threatening illness, the cancer progression is very realistic, but the film is thankfully not full of too much sentimentality and mawkishness, it actually has funny moments along the way as well, all in all it is a great comedy drama. Very good!