I’m not a big fan of dramatic films. Seriously, I’m not. Usually, I steer clear of movies dealing with death because that’s a surefire recipe of spilling the waterworks. I almost didn’t see Now is Good because it was pretty up front about the death and the disease as the subject matter. But because I was curious to find out why Jeremy Irvine rejected the role of Peeta Mellark for this one, I knew I would not rest until I saw it.

In this Sony Pictures/BBC film production, Dakota Fanning plays 17 year-old cancer patient Tessa Scott, a girl who chooses to stop treatment and live out the rest of her life the way she wanted. In order to do so, she creates a list, which includes dancing all night, doing drugs, losing her virginity, getting a tattoo, among other things. Not all of her attempts become successful but when she meets her next door neighbor, sweet and sensitive Adam (Jeremy Irvine), she finds a renewed drive to live. Just when things are getting better, reality rears its ugly head as her disease threatens to take away her chance at happiness.

First things first. It was weird to hear Dakota Fanning with a British accent. It seemed ill fitting for her and at times, felt forced (but that could be just me). Despite this setback though, I believe she was the perfect actress to play the role of Tessa because this girl is just oozing talent.

As Tessa, she wore the depression and rebelliousness of her character like second skin until it felt so natural that audiences just needed to accept it. She gave audiences a perspective of how difficult it is to be sick with a terminal disease, and how challenging it is for the people around them to adjust, not just to thought of letting go but in dealing with the sick, as well.

There were times though, that Dakota’s acting was obviously classes beyond Jeremy’s and the portrayal took a sort of lopsided approach.

This is not to say that Jeremy Irvine is a bad actor. He has great potential but I felt like he was not yet ripe for a role that called for him to dig so deep into his psyche that he could translate his grief into his acting, much like Shane West did as Lander Carter in A Walk to Remember. There was something subdued in his portrayal when it seemed like the right thing would have been to completely let go.

I do understand now, why he turned down the Hunger Games’ iconic role for this tearjerker. Now is Good provided him with a good challenge as an actor and Adam is the type of role that audiences remember with fond feelings. And judging from his upcoming projects, his career didn’t seem to take too much of a slump from this choice.

I loved the scenes between Tessa and her dad, and at times, wanted to smack her in the head for being too callous about her dad’s eagerness to help her get well. It was also difficult to see her with her mother or her brother whose innocence was just heartbreaking.

This film had an indie sort of vibe about it that’s pretty typical for a British film and it worked for the overall tone of the movie, which was sad, retrospective and melancholy — most of the time. There were true gems of moments when the movie tackled family dynamics but real tearjerkers were in the realization of what her loss would entail. Audiences can’t help but cry in a movie like this one.

The only bright spots in an otherwise depressing movie were moments where Tessa and Adam were discovering their feelings for each other, and the sense of acceptance about what was obviously the next stop in Tessa’s story.

All in all, Now is Good is a good film that delivers on its promise. It may be depressing to watch but it has a certain sort of sweetness and innocence about it that connects the movie to the audience, and at the end of the film, allows them to let go and have closure.