Now Is Good (2012)
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 11
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 1
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 1,704
Movie Info
Tessa is seventeen and passionate about life. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she determines to use every moment, compiling a catalogue of what a normal teenager would experience, including losing her virginity and taking drugs. With the help of her friend Zoey, she sets the list in motion. While her family deals with fear and grief, each in their own way, Tessa explores a whole new world. Falling in love with Adam, her new neighbour, wasn't on the list, but it proves to be the most
Jan 8, 2013
Sony Pictures
- Official Site
Watch It Now
ADVERTISEMENT
Now Is Good Trailer & Photos
All Critics (25) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (11)
Hellbent on inspiring a rush of wind-beneath-my-wings, life-affirming feeling.
Top Critic[Spikes] the Nicholas Sparks-style teen Love Story plot with refreshing flashes of sex, drugs and Ellie Goulding songs.
Surprisingly harsh when it comes to the dented appeal of its lead character, the movie is a predictable drag, attempting to cozy up to its young adult literary origins in a decidedly tuneless fashion.
There's nothing like a terminal illness for firing up a sappy romantic drama.
This latest directorial outing by Ol Parker has a veneer of cancer but it's the wish-fulfilment teenage romance at its heart that is most likely to appeal to its target audience.
The problem isn't so much that Now Is Good will reduce its teenage target audience to public sniveling, but that it does so by pushing the most obvious and most sentimental buttons repeatedly, relentlessly and somewhat extravagantly.
Fanning gives a truly impressive and memorable performance in this ... which will give Parker another dark horse in the running.
Preteen girls will find this soppy romance unbearably romantic, but everyone else will struggle to sit through it
Is Now Is Good a great film? Almost certainly not. But its effectiveness is frightening. Bring whole sheaves of tissues.
Why is [Dakota Fanning] living onscreen the way that so few female protagonists get to live? Because she's dying. *sigh*
I'm sorry to say, that despite Dakota Fanning's powerful dying performance, Now Is Good - is not a good movie. Unfortunately, it looks like a 90's daytime soap and pulls at the heart strings like Michael Bolton's mullet.
Presses the obvious buttons so hard that you feel totally manipulated.
Take a box of hankies.
Teenage girls will be gushing like fire hydrants.
Is this for you? Well, if you want to bawl your eyes out in a cinema, even though part of your brain feels it's being forced to do so, then yes.
As the two-dimensional Perfect Boyfriend, Irvine chases any sense of reality from the screen.
This teen cancer drama never really rises above being a collection of cliches, despite some decent performances.
Even the stiffest upper lips may start to wobble.
It's subtly acted by both Fanning and Irvine, who seem to realize that the only way to work with material this potentially melodramatic is to underplay.
If you're in the mood to wallow in a good weepy, this could be the film for you.
Watchable, emotionally engaging British weepie with strong performances from a talented cast, though the script cops out on several occasions and often loses sight of its central premise.
Boasting a brilliantly prickly performance from Dakota Fanning, Now Is Good sees the terminal illness movie come of age.
Audience Reviews for Now Is Good
Seventeen year old Tessa is dying of leukemia. She is desperate to live as much as she can before her disease claims her life. Tessa is angry, as one would be in her position, and she acts out a lot against her parents. Her mother is a complete flake that infuriated me more than once during the movie. But her father, played by the great Paddy Considine, is nothing but caring and desperate to keep his baby girl alive and with him. But Tessa refuses any more treatment knowing it's only going to prolong the inevitable.
Soon she meets Adam. He is just as important in this film as Tessa is. Adam becomes Tessa's first and last love. If it had to be anyone, he was the perfect choice. Adam helps Tessa accomplish some of the things on her list as well as helps her find out who she is in such a short period of time. He was everything she needed at the end.
The acting is solid and Fanning does a good job with her british accent. It's my first time seeing Jeremy Irvine in a film. I really liked his performance. He brought a lot of emotion to his character. Paddy is always great. I love him in movies. It's a really good tear jerker. I would definitely see it again. I plan to read the book now that I've seen the movie. Hopefully the emotions poor out of the book as well as it did through these characters in the film."
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Now Is Good yet.
What's Hot On RT
Jack the Giant Slayer and...
Woody Allen in San Francisco
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 771266382 Title: Now Is Good Release Date: null MPAA: 3 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 18
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 101
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 182
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 124
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
- Critics Consensus: Man of Steel Is Up, Up, and Okay 277
Top Headlines
Foreign Titles
- Je veux vivre (Now Is Good) (FR)
The premise was interesting, a girl trying to cram all she hadn't experienced into a short period of time, but I don't know that this truly succeeded.
Dakota is good, as always, and manages a passable English accent. Although that always puts me off too, to be honest - well known actors faking accents. Why not use their own, or use an actor from that country.
It's by no means bad, but I don't think I would like to watch if again.