Irreplaceable You | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I saw this movie almost a week ago and it's still on my mind for a variety of reasons.

It's a Netflix original movie, so it's easily accessible if you haven't seen it but you want to. I chose it on a whim because it looked like a cute rom-com, one of my genres of choice. But be warned, there's more to this film than meets the eye!

It's about a couple called Abbie and Sam. They've been together forever and at the point that the film opens, they are engaged, about to start planning their wedding and the rest of their lives. However, due to a doctor's appointment for what they suspect is a pregnancy, Abbie discovers that she has terminal cancer. After discovering this, rather than dwell on her fate, Abbie makes a plan - she's going to find the woman that Sam will spend the rest of his life with. But will she be able to find the right person to replace her? And what will happen when she is forced to stop distracting herself from her life?

I thought this was a really good film, I enjoyed it immensely and I definitely cried at one or two points!

For me, I loved that it wasn't romanticised. If we look at films/books that mix the genres of terminal illness and romance, like 'The Fault In Our Stars' (which I loved), we see cancer bringing people together, reminding them to live life to the full, making them fall in love. This film doesn't do that.

In this film, we see the way that cancer can tear people apart. Through the relationship between Abbie and Sam, we see the effect of this illness on real people, the couple that live across the road from us. We see them argue, we see them both struggle to deal with what's happening. For me, it was refreshing to see something so real. I love the romanticised version of these stories too, but for me this was raw. Even the plot, with Abbie trying to make sure that Sam is taken care of after her death, was so interesting because it's something that you might only think about if you're in that situation.

There were also some really sweet scenes between Abbie and a member of her support group Myron (played by Christopher Walken). It was great to see these two people going through the same thing, and having completely different interpretations of it because of the different points in their life that they were at. Also, Walken and Gugu Mbatha-Raw really played off of each other well.

Something else I liked about the story (which you may not) is that, the characters of Abbie and Sam weren't particularly likeable. As you can tell from the lack of a mention of him in this review, Sam was very much a plot-driver. This story is Abbie focused and Sam is only there to further her story. Which makes a change as usually the woman is the plot device! But Abbie in and of herself isn't that likeable either. She's obsessive and determined, she spends the movie avoiding what everyone around her is telling her to face. She's annoying and at times you just want to jump into the movie and shake her for being an idiot. But I love this. It reiterates the fact that cancer is still cancer, and different people deal with it in different ways. She doesn't have to be likeable for you to care about her.

However, there were also some things about the movie that I didn't like. And one of those things is the very beginning of the film.

I don't want to spoil anything, and even though it's literally the very beginning, I won't spoil it, because I would have been upset if it was spoiled for me. But I wasn't happy with the beginning (the way that the story was being told) because I wanted there to be a chance. Which will make sense if you've seen the movie.

Also, there were a few points where they blatantly tried to include some comic relief and it just wasn't funny. Films have been doing that a lot these days. What's wrong with a drama that's just dramatic? Why do we need to have a character that's there just to get a few laughs. And it's even worse when they're not funny!

But overall, I'd still definitely recommend this film. The good points very much outweigh the bad and it's hard not to get invested in Abbie and Sam's story!

Lou