Our Friend (2019)

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots March 9, 2021

★ 3/10

2020 was a tough year and 2021 isn’t starting out much better, so it’s poor timing for a studio to release a tearjerker like “Our Friend.” Movies about terminal illness are never fun to watch, but this one is such a downer that it may serve as an unwanted depressant for even the most upbeat viewers. Based on an award-winning Esquire magazine article, the film tells the true story of journalist Matt Teague (Casey Affleck) and his actress wife Nicole (Dakota Johnson), who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Seeing his best friend coping with a dying wife and struggling to be a good father to his two young daughters (Violet McGraw, Isabella Kai), Dane (Jason Segel) puts his own life on hold and moves in with Matt and Nicole to support them through the roughest of times. It’s a true gesture of steadfast friendship, with Dane standing by the family until the end. If this sounds…