Maybe that’s because Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michiel Huisman tug so fiercely at our heartstrings with their charming portrayals of two people who fell in love as they grew up together. In fact, neither one of them even dated anyone else.
It’s clear that Abbie and Sam belong together. Most of their conversations make us smile at the way they talk to each other. And when we hear the bad news about Abbie’s stage 4 cancer, we can’t help worrying about her right along with Sam. Her chemo treatment scenes are hard to take and she starts looking so tired and frail. Granted, we’ve seen similar films – Earl and the Dying Girl and The Fault in Our Stars, for example – but this time the story involves the dying character trying to find someone to take her place before she passes on. Tissue, please!
Childhood sweethearts, their love seems true .
As adults, that love just grew.
When cancer rears its ugly head,
it brings them feelings of great dread.
How will they deal with this sad news?
Will their love change amid the blues?
They love and laugh and sometimes cry
as we pat tissues on each eye.
SHE tries to find new love for him.
HE won’t give in to such a whim.
While this film brings on lots of tears,
these two lovers earn heartfelt cheers.
Some of the best scenes in Irreplaceable You take place in Abbie’s support group. That’s where she meets Myron (Christopher Walken) who becomes a good friend. They even go shopping together! Walken is perfect in this amusing but also serious role. He makes Myron seem so real to us as he tries to help Abbie do the right thing. (I was hoping Walken would do a little tap dancing, which would not be out of character here.) Kate McKinnon, who plays a “glass is half full” member of the group, annoys us a bit during the group sessions, but she’s never boring. Steve Coogan, usually so funny, appears rather bland as the group leader.
We know how this movie has to end, but the last sequence manages to come across as poignant and sadly entertaining. More tissues, please.
(Released by Neftlix. Not rated by MPAA.)
Review also posted at ReelTalk Movie Reviews.
My partner seems to worry about who of us will be left behind much more than I. It is a much greater concern of hers, than mine. Frankly, I hope that I go sooner before life becomes painful drudgery, so she will still have youthful years in retirement to enjoy the way she likes without having to be constantly nearby to attend to my needs.
Almost 50 years ago, my girlfriend (we were both college instructors), knowing of my eventual decline physically from my creeping paralysis, worried about it, too. On a date, I drove her and I over 60 miles to Minneapolis to go to the latest movie, Love Story. While I found the movie to be a little bit idealistic and even quite sappy, somewhere near the end of the movie, my girlfriend started crying, loudly. It was embarrassing because others nearby could hear her sobbing.
Fortunately, the movie ended shortly and we left. She cried nearly the whole hour that it took to drive back to my house. I couldn't understand why she kept crying so much about a movie. Finally, when we got to my house I asked her. She replied, "That's us!" And burst out in another flood of tears.
She left me about a month later for another teacher in our college with mentally retarded twins. I heard that she was named in his divorce. She seemed willing to take on those children, but not me. In a way, I'm glad that she made that decision early.
Ron