Our Friend: A Touching True Story (Amazon Prime, $19.95)

There are many films that explore the horrors of cancer, but this movie, while deftly dealing head-on with the dreadful reality of this disease (how's that for a string of alliterations?), highlights the extraordinary effort of a friend to help a family cope with an ugly terminal illness.  The film is based on the article that Matthew Teague wrote for Esquire in May 2015 and is a true story. Matthew Teague (Casey Affleck) is married to Nicole (Dakota Johnson).  They have two young daughters, and the family lives in the small town of Fairhope, Alabama.  Matthew is a journalist while Nicole works for the repertory theatre.  Their marriage is pretty solid, although Matthew is frequently away from home on assignments.  Unfortunately, Nicole gets ovarian cancer.  Matthew and Nicole have a dear friend, Dane (Jason Segel), who lives in New Orleans.  He comes up for a visit after Nicole has been sick for about a year and realizes that the family is overwhelmed.  He decides to give up his life in New Orleans to stay with the family and help out with parenting and whatever else is necessary – a kind of sacrifice that not many friends would make.  As Nicole's condition worsens, and the small hope of chemotherapy working is dashed, the situation becomes extremely painful and everyone's character is tested. Dane is not doing well in life compared to his friends like Matthew.  He isn't married with kids, and he has a low paying job managing a sports store in New Orleans.  He fantasizes about being a stand-up comic and is working on some bits, but it seems improbable that this will ever happen.  He's had some relationships, but they never seem to work out.  Dane isn't happy with the way his life is going, but he has some wonderful qualities that Matthew and Nicole appreciated, even before Nicole became sick. The film travels back-and-forth between before and after the cancer diagnosis, revealing some problems in Matthew's and Nicole's marriage as well as some reasons for Dane struggling in life.  I would have preferred a more straightforward timeline, although this didn't matter that much.  I think most of us are there for our friends, but this film exemplifies qualities that a good friend truly needs.