The Reel Review
The terminally ill matriarch of a dysfunctional family makes it her mission to unite her adult children before Christmas as she plans to depart life on her own terms. Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, Toni Collette and Andrea Riseborough star in this drama directed by Winslet and written by her son Joe Anders.
The mother and son’s respective directing and writing debuts are a sweet but predictable drama with an impressive A-list cast that helps offset a clunky screenplay that, while emotionally manipulative and sometimes poorly paced, is still impressive given its very young writer. The biggest issue is that other than Winslet and Johnny Flynn (The Outfit, Emma.) as the two more grounded adult children, the rest of June’s immediate family are insufferably annoying caricatures.
That said, even with all of its cloyingness and clichés, Goodbye June is a tear-inducing crowd pleaser that will tug at the heartstrings of anyone who has suffered the death of a beloved family member. And as expected, Mirren and Winslet make this sweet tribute from Joe Anders to his grandmother (Kate’s mother) a worthy watch.
REEL FACTS
• Joe Anders wrote the screenplay for Goodbye June at the age of 19, inspired by the 2017 death of his maternal grandmother Sally from ovarian cancer when he was just 13.
• Helen Mirren broke her own personal acting roles about not playing cancer patients or people with dementia because she loved the story.
• Originally Kate Winslet was only going to produce and star in the film, but later decided to direct it too, to ensure that her son could best experience “this beautiful thing that he had created come to life.”
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