Film Review: NOW IS GOOD (2012)

Director: Ol Parker
Writers: Jenny Downham (novel ‘Before I Die’), Ol Parker (screenplay)
Running time: 100 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Drama/Romance
UK Release date: 10^th September 2012

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 7^th July 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Now I know this isn’t my usual fayre but I thought I’d take myself a little out of my comfort zone for a change. I opted for this one partly because I was intrigued by it and partly because it has such a good cast. What could go wrong I hear you say (okay, maybe not), but I have been stung before and so it was with fingers crossed that I hit ‘Play’. Well I survived and I’m happy to report it’s definitely not a dud and I’ll tell you why after this very brief summary.

The film tells the story of the last few months of the life of Tessa Scott (Dakota Fanning). You see, she has terminal cancer and has decided to come off chemotherapy so she has a chance to tick a few things off her ‘list’. She is aided by her best friend, Zoey (Kaya Scodelario), but things don’t quite go according to plan. Tessa lives with her father (Paddy Considine) and her little brother, Cal (Edgar Canham). Her mother (Olivia Williams) has separated and lives elsewhere. Her father is always hopeful of finding a cure whereas her mother cannot cope and is almost in denial. Tessa meets and eventually falls for the neighbour’s son, Adam (Jeremy Irvine), but as you can guess, it’s a doomed romance. I really don’t want to say any more, it’s one of those you are best watching for yourself.

At the start of the film I was relieved to see that one of the production companies involved was BBC Films. To me that’s always a mark of quality and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. At the centre of it is a quite brilliant performance from Dakota Fanning; she just gets better each time I see her on screen. She even got her English accent spot on! Also worthy of note were Paddy Considine and Jeremy Irvine, they both had challenging roles that they pulled of quite excellently. Yes, it’s all emotional but that only works if you care about the characters and that’s just why I found this one worked so well. All the characters were well rounded and you knew exactly how they fitted. A very well written script brings it all together. Add to that some great performances and you’re definitely on the right track. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but I for one have to say I really enjoyed this one despite the inevitable sad ending.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.6/10.

IMDb Score: 6.8/10 (based on 7,801 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1937264/

MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 56/100 (based on 25 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 64/100 (based on 1,774 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_is_good_2012/

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LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/nowisgood/index.html
Trailer: