violinjoe So much to love, so much to hate in this film.Loved the acting, love the characters, love the script. But the story is garbage. Why would anyone not share their cancer diagnosis with those they most love? Why would a woman leave her children with a strange neighbor who just moved in and met less than a minute ago? Why would a husband not ask where his wife was after she spent the night sleeping in a laundermat. Why would a woman choose to be so incredibly selfish to her two young girls instead of giving them the chance to learn about death and say goodbye?The main character's actions and motivations make no sense anyway, because we have no context for her behavior before or after her diagnosis. I was bored through most of the movie anyway. Watch it for the acting, not the story.

Marko I suppose this movie is trying to be deep and insightful, but oh God, how shallow it is. There's no message which you could take from it. No character to which you could relate - they all seems hollow and unreal, they're like puppets in hands of someone with a very limited imagination.Ann - the main character is a young and (so far) healthy individual. She have two little daughters and a loving husband. After getting the news that she has only two months to live, she make some interesting decisions. First of all, she refuse to get a second opinion and she refuse any treatment. Her initial reaction is, to sit, cry a little bit, then ask for a candy. Her next action is, to write an obligatory "things to do before I die" list, on which she put things which I can split to following groups:1. Predictable: she decide that she'll tell her daughters that she love them every day, visit father in Jail, have a picnic with family, and say what she's (really) thinking. We don't see much of this in the movie.2. Shallow: get some false nails (do something with hair), smoke and drink as much as she want. Those are the most interesting things she can imagine, when she know she have only two months on this earth? How sad…3. Silly: find Don (husband) a new wife and record birthday messages for her daughters, for every year until they eighteen. I don't understand, why looking for a new wife for husband? He's not retard, he's good looking, caring young man, obviously he can find a new wife. And I suppose he should be able to choose her himself, when he feels the time is right. And why create some sad, crying messages, which her daughters supposed to listen, on every birthday, until they're eighteen!? Wouldn't that be kind of a depressing on birthdays? Why not just tell the family what's going on, and allow them to go through this with her?4. Selfish: make love with other men to see what it is like, make someone fall in love with her. She have so little time to live, yet she desires not to spend it with family, but rather seek an affair in which one of her hopes is, that (not she) but the other person will fall in love with her. Why? She's already very much loved, her husband is portrayed as such a tender person; if he find out what she did, he'll be hurt, her daughters will be hurt. The person who she have an afar with, if he'll indeed fall in love with her, will be hurt at the end. She herself will be hurt. Hurting whole bunch of people, just so that she'll satisfy her ego and "see what it is like".And this is how the movie is, above all we just watch her running to her new lover - even if that means leaving kids with a complete stranger and constantly lying to husband. We don't see how she's dealing with sickens, because beside throwing up occasionally, there's no signs that she's actually sick. We don't see that she'd be dealing with any mental challenges concerning the fact that she'll soon die, - her challenges are, above all, those of any adulterer: not being caught, finding time to see lover.But even for a movie about adulterer, this one is very shallow, as she's facing no moral dilemma whatsoever. All seems so natural for her, almost as her family wouldn't consist of real people, but rather soulless dolls, being there purely to play a side role in her life. Funny enough, this is what her new lover becomes very soon too. So, she's selfish, shallow control-freak, unable to care about or love anyone but herself. Well, my guess would be then, that her illness must be some karmic balancing - hopefully in next life, she'll learn to be a bit nicer.

SnoopyStyle Ann (Sarah Polley) lives with her two kids and her one and only lover husband (Scott Speedman) in a trailer. Then she gets uterine cancer and only two months to live. To deal, she draws up a list of things to do before she dies. She makes tapes to be played by her daughters on their birthdays, finds a new wife for her husband after her death, and have an affair.Isabel Coixet writes/directs this sentimental film. Mark Ruffalo, Amanda Plummer, and Deborah Harry also star in this drama. It's definitely a high concept movie. Sarah Polley plays tired and beaten down very well. The pace is slow. The tension doesn't really build. The ending is pretty much pre-ordained. A few surprises would have been helpful.

non-shill Aside from a couple good acting performances, this film has nothing going for it. A (very) young woman finds out she has only a couple months to live, and takes this news as if she had been told her car needed a new transmission. Get a second opinion? No--why bother? See an oncologist? Nah... Just ask for candy from the doctor and make a few tapes for people to listen to after you're dead.So, we don't get to witness any real emotional response from the main character. And because she refuses to tell anyone she's dying, we don't get to experience any other characters' responses, either. The whole film is thus boring, tedious and pointless.The role of the "other man" is underplayed and just... weird. The voiceovers don't add much, and even if they attempted to, it would be a cheap, easy way out.But of course, any movie with a person dying of cancer gets an automatic 8-to-10 vote from most people. Ridiculous.Please rate this review as "not helpful". I WANT you to!