Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Miss You Already Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 4, 2016

A pull quote emblazoned across the back cover of Miss You Already proclaims the film “Beaches for 2015” (a quote weirdly lacking the seemingly required exclamation point), and that may indeed be all some potential viewers need to know about this unabashed tear jerker. Though the title of the film may not actually mean exactly what it seems to be implying, it nonetheless lets the cat out of the bag that someone in the film may not be around anymore (or will alternatively not make it to the end of the film), so there’s very little actual suspense as to what the upshot of the film’s dramatic “arc” is going to be. (The fact that the film is based on a novel titled Goodbye might provide another salient clue.) Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore portray near lifelong friends Milly and Jess, and the film wastes no time in offering a quick montage documenting their years of togetherness. A couple of quick vignettes elide the women’s young adult years, with both of them supposedly “settling down” to domestic bliss, even if some cracks in the home wallpaper may already be showing. The main “three hankie weeper” elements start to intrude when Milly is diagnosed with breast cancer, but the film also wants to tug at the veritable heartstrings in a perhaps slightly less fatalistic way in a simultaneous story which sees Jess attempting to become pregnant, an attempt that has been fraught with failure for some time. There is no denying that there is a maudlin tone running through huge swaths of Miss You Already, but it’s to the principal cast’s credit that the film often feels surprisingly sharp and tart, refusing to totally give in to waves of pathos.

BFFs forever (or at least until death do them part) would seem to be the epigram (epitaph?) for this film, and so those wanting huge plot dynamics may well be waiting for hyperbolic events which never in fact materialize. Miss You Already is almost by very definition a more intimate actor’s piece, and as such it suffices more than well enough as a springboard for two quite effective and affecting performances by Barrymore and Collette. There’s some frankly hackneyed but still relatively nuanced material early on after Milly finds out she has breast cancer where Collette has little dialogue but is still able to proffer a real feeling account of Milly’s inner turmoil.

What’s at least kind of interesting in what appears on its face to be another “cancer takes a beloved” outing, is that Milly is in fact not that easy to love. She’s kind of snarky, tends to not communicate effectively, and actually spends a good deal of time refusing to even mention her health issues to not only Jess, but perhaps more importantly, her own husband Kit (Dominic Cooper). It’s at least a somewhat different formulation from at least somewhat similar (admittedly teen skewed) “disease-a-thons” like The Fault in Our Stars or Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

Once Milly’s health issues are revealed, the film wends through a traditional but still quite effective litany of chemotherapy and the resultant effects, leading to perhaps predictable vignettes like Milly trying to deal with hair loss and decide on what kind of wig she wants to wear. The prickliness of the character is perhaps unavoidably softened by this gauntlet, while Jess is left to be the doe eyed, supportive friend, something that Barrymore is able to provide without much effort. The whole pregnancy plot arc for Jess seems weirdly irrelevant in a strange kind of way, at least considering the “life or death” aspects which Milly is facing.

Director Catherine Hardwicke, perhaps best known for glossier romantic fantasies like Twilight and Red Riding Hood , makes a passing glance at her indie roots (as exemplified by Thirteen ) with a film that offers a verité ambience courtesy of lots of “jiggle cam” and a somewhat lo-fi production ethos. Hardwicke’s camera (which evidently included her iPhone, at least according to one interview with the director) darts and dances between the two main characters, almost like the unseen bond which unites them. It’s perhaps an overly precious stylistic approach, but Hardwicke at least has the sense to let the film be about the characters, rather than production design or special effects. In that sense, Miss You Already largely succeeds, even if it never brings anything very new to the “my best friend is dying” subgenre.

Miss You Already Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Miss You Already is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. While the IMDb doesn't list too many technical aspects of this release, digging through various online interviews and other data suggests this was digitally shot largely with the Arri Alexa (though, as mentioned above in the main body of the review, Hardwicke evidently used her iPhone for at least a couple of sequences). The results are solid but never overly impressive. Hardwicke and DP Elliot Davis favor extreme close-ups, and those can often offer abundant fine detail, even when the image is color graded (as much of this film is). While there's the attendant sharpness and clarity that typifies this format, things never really pop in any meaningful way, and several darker sequences are hobbled by a murky ambience and less than convincing shadow detail. A few brief moments have been artificially "distressed" (see screenshot 19), something that further depletes detail levels. There are no problems with image instability and no overtly problematic compression issues.

Miss You Already Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Miss You Already features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which frankly simply doesn't have a lot of opportunity to strut any overly impressive surround stuff. This is a relatively quiet, intimate film built out of small scale dialogue scenes, and as such the surround channels are utilized mostly for ambient environmental effects and occasional support from Harry Gregson-Williams' score. While there's not a glut of "wow" immersion here, there's consistent if subtle use of the side and rear channels, and dialogue, the chief component of this soundtrack, always is rendered cleanly and clearly.

Miss You Already Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary (1080p; 18:15)


• With Love: Making "Miss You Already" (1080p; 14:31) is standard issue EPK fare.


• "The Crazy Ones" Music Video by Paloma Faith (1080p; 4:18)


• "There's a Place" Music Video by the All American Rejects (1080i; 4:59)


• On Set Selfies (1080p; 00:45)


• Filmmaker Commentary features Catherine Hardwicke, Jeff Toy and Jamie Holt.


• A Director's Lookbook for Milly's Party (1080p; 2:36) is a kind of interesting compilation of stills with Hardwicke's printed comments appended.

Miss You Already Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those wanting an unabashed "three hankie weeper" will find more than enough to keep them engaged in Miss You Already, even if the film traffics in a lot of material that has been seen in any number of prior films (including Beaches, not to mention the obvious). Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.