Our Friend (Film Review)

2021 Gravitas Ventures
Directed by: Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Written by: Brad Ingelsby (based upon the National Magazine Award-winning The Friend: Love is Not a Big Enough Word by Matthew Teague)
Starring: Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 124 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Nicole Teague is dying. Her journalist husband, Matthew, is shellshocked, as he and Nicole struggle with how to tell their two young daughters that their mother has terminal cancer. Meanwhile, as Nicole's illness begins to drain more and more of the couple's energy and time, they find that they need help. Enter their mutual friend, Dane. With his own life in New Orleans stuck in neutral, Dane doesn't hesitate to help out Matthew and Nicole. As things become more trying and difficult, as Nicole starts to fade and other friends begin to check out of the picture, Dane refuses to leave the Teague's side...no matter the personal cost.
Most of the small amount of negative feedback 2021's Our Friend has received has centered around the way the film doesn't focus upon the more brutal details of its Matthew Teague-written source material. Those excised details from Teague's award-winning biographical essay center around excrement and stomach acid, and it's true, the movie only hints around these gorier aspects of Nicole Teague's cancer. Most of those reviews still rightly praise Our Friend's acting. Jason Segal, as Dane, puts in a career best performance, conveying a loyalty and sadness in his eyes that rarely needs words. Casey Affleck does his usual pained, quiet talking thing, but he does it as well as he ever has. Dakota Johnson is quite believable in the role of Nicole. However, the film is called Our Friend, and at the end of the day, Teague's essay and the film revolve around Dane...well, actually, the film and essay have slightly different titles...but I'll get to that in a moment.
Segal carries a lot of the emotional weight of this film on his back. His earlier scenes, which paint a nearly stillborn life before Nicole's cancer, are quite moving. He's great with Affleck and Johnson, as well. However, the true showcase for Segal's talent might just come in the scenes where Dane tries to bring some modicum of joy and normalcy to the lives of the Teague children.
I have read Teague's essay, and it is immensely powerful, a painful and difficult read. While the film may not show the worst physical affects of Nicole's cancer in graphic detail, it carries all the emotional power of Teague's essay. I found myself far more often complaining about the film's structure than about any historical omissions. For the majority of Our Friend, the filmmakers decided to take a nonchronological approach to the film's storytelling. While this does follow the structure of Teague's piece, I felt that this method robbed the film of a bit of its emotional immediacy. At least, I thought this up until the film's last 20 minutes or so, when I had to consistently wipe my eyes on my sleeve. It turns out, Our Friend, titled differently from Teague's piece, The Friend, isn't just a reference to Dane, the Teague's loyal companion. It's a reference to the deeper gulf that brought Dane and Matthew more closely together--a less welcome friend they came to know all too well.