Our Friend

Parents need to know that Our Friend is an emotional friendship drama based on the true story of a young woman named Nicole (Dakota Johnson) -- a wife, mother, and friend -- who's dying of cancer. It's an unflinching examination of terminal illness and shows Nicole in her final stages: frail, in excruciating pain, and in the throes of psychosis. Viewers also see earlier times in her life, including the trajectory of her marriage to Matt (Casey Affleck), from affection and sudsy shared showers (nothing graphic shown) to contention, matters of infidelity, and ultimately his role as an exhausted nurse to her. But through it all, love is always present. While the story is focused on adults, Nicole and Matt's 10-year-old daughter expresses her anger at the situation. It's morose, but the light is the couple's extraordinary friend, Dane (Jason Segel), who shows up to help temporarily and ends up staying for more than a year, giving up his own life to help them through a terrible time. Swearing ("s--t," "f--k," etc.) permeates the film, and characters drink beer, but the biggest issue here is that a story about losing a parent may be scary and too emotionally taxing for kids.