Film Review: Now is Good

When Warner Bros asked if I’d like to review Now is Good I jumped at the chance as it was a film I had hoped to see at the cinema but never got round to it.  The base of the story is that Dakota Fanning plays Tessa, a girl who is terminally ill with leukaemia. Tessa compiles a list of things she’d like to do before her life is over and at the top of this list is loosing her virginity.

Now is Good, which is based on the novel “Before I Die” is set and was filmed, beautifully and simply in England with a good musical score that sets the seen perfectly.  Okay, it’s a bit clichéd in places, you know, sunsets on the beach and obviously there’s a love interest but it’s still an enjoyable film.

The film raises thought-provoking questions.  What would you like to do before your time is up? How you would spend your remaining days?  A film like this could be seen as quite depressing and I don’t think the character Tessa is particularly likeable but I think that is intentional, after all, a lot of teenage girls aren’t that likeable. She’s quite a hard and abrasive character and somehow coupled with the sympathy you’re supposed to feel for a young girl that is dying, well it’s kind of hard to get your head around how you feel about her.

I don’t think it’s a secret that I cry at most films and whilst I wasn’t inconsolable as I have been at other films, it is a bit of a tearjerker, I mean it was always going to be wasn’t it?! There is one part were a nurse is talking to Tessa which gave me a real lump in the throat and on the whole it’s a heartbreaking story that you can’t help but be touched by.

I’ve read criticisms of Dakota Fanning’s acting however I really think she pulled it off, fake English accent and all. I was a bit concerned that I’d end up being irked by an American doing an English accent however that didn’t happen and Dakota gives a really good performance.

If you’re a fan of Nicholas Spark’s movies like The Notebook, Dear John and The Lucky one, chances are you’ll like this.

Now is Good is released on DVD on 21^st January 2013 and is available from Amazon.

With thanks to Warner Bros for providing this DVD for review.