Directed by: Ol Parker
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Rose Leslie, Olivia Williams, Jeremy Irvine, Kaya Scodelario, Paddy Considine
Terminal leukemia sufferer Fanning falls for neighbor Irvine.
At one point Fanning even uses her illness as an excuse to avoid a shop-lifting charge. I'm not naive enough to believe everyone who is diagnosed with a terminal illness faces it with dignity but many do. I'd much rather one of their stories be told than that of a bitter teen who insists on making everyone else's life unbearable. With this character you can't help think if she was healthy she'd have something else to moan about. She's indicative of the worst of today's youth. When asked what she wants from life her reply is "fame". Not renown, not respect, just fame for the sake of it. Her equally self-involved boyfriend, Irvine, decides to help her achieve this by graffiti-ing her name all over town. Nothing says "I Love You" like a bit of criminal damage at someone else's expense.
As if the movie wasn't setting a bad enough example for teens, we also get an anti-abortion message shoe-horned into the plot. Her best friend, Scodelario, is a particularly reprehensible little oik who steals ATM cards from strangers and seems to spend most of her time stoned. When she becomes pregnant all you can think is "Abort! Abort!" but of course she decides to keep the child. What a future that poor kid is in for.@moviewaffle