Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2013

Jeez. Sometimes they should sell tissues at the popcorn stand. But this unabashed tearjerker is made a tad less mawkish by Dakota Fanning’s sassy turn as a 17-year-old girl who has lived with leukemia for four years. She elects to halt her debilitating chemo and start in on her bucket list: shoplift, do drugs, lose virginity. This latter is helped by conveniently having Jeremy Irving (War Horse) as a neighbor. I don’t get why she’s so nasty to everyone around her, though. Makes her rather unlikable. This cancer weepie will resonate with some more than others. I’ve sat through worse, but better, too.