Another story about death that’s been done to death. Toni Colette goes full-cancer, Drew Barrymore acts the part of concerned BFF, and between them, the barbed one-liners metastasize almost as quickly as the tears. Though the outcome remains the same, if given the choice, in cases of terminal illness sagas, a melancholy-cushioning jocular approach is always preferable. As “dying-for-Oscar” performances go, Colette is chemo compared to Julianne Moore’s malignant Still Alice; on the comedy front, it’s a full half-hour shorter than Sandler & Apatow’s cancer(ous) sitcom, Funny People. Audiences neither want nor need another woebegone, admittedly up-tempo set-’em-up-to-watch-’em-die, let alone one in which the heroine turns “cancer bully” and whose last-minute actions do much to forestall audience sympathy. As the husbands, Dominic Cooper and Paddy Considine never take a backseat to their powerhouse acting spouses, but one wishes Jacqueline Bisset had been given more to do than the ditzy mom shuffle. Catherine Hardwicke directs. (2015) — Scott Marks
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