Our Friend

***Our Friend*** is a 2021 American Comedy-Drama film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite with screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, based off *The Friend: Love is Not a Big Enough Word* by Matthew Teague. It stars Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck. A film follows Nicole receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, her husband's best friend, Dane moves in with them.

Have that film announces Gabriela Cowperthwaite was directorial debut. Marketing that film received positive reviews and responds by fans. Additionally, the film recorded on the Fairhope, Alabama on February 19, 2019. Despite that film also a literally teams with Gravitas Ventures.

Toronto International Film Festival we're announcing the film premiere on September 6, 2019. It was released in January 22, 2021 on theatrical release and on VOD by Gravitas Ventures. It received positive reviews from film critics who Rotten Tomatoes called it "a saddy film and some of the source material can be figure" and praise Cowperthwaite's director and some of the performance with certified Fresh Awards.

## Plot

After Nicole receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, her husband's best friend, Dane moves in with them. He offers them support during this time, all while putting his own life on hold.

## Cast

* Casey Affleck as Matthew Teague
* Dakota Johnson as Nicole Teague
* Jason Segel as Dane Faucheux
* Jake Owen as Aaron
* Gwendoline Christie as Teresa
* Cherry Jones as Faith Pruett
* Denée Benton as Charlotte
* Isabella Rice as Molly
* Violet McGraw as Evie
* Marielle Scott as Kat
* Ahna O'Reilly as Gale
* Azita Ghanizada as Elizabeth
* Sampley Barinaga as Kenny

## Production

In January 2019, it was announced Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, Jason Segel and Jake Owen had been cast in the film, with Gabriela Cowperthwaite directing from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, based upon an *Esquire* article by Matthew Teague. Gwendoline Christie and Cherry Jones were among additional casting announced in February.

Filming began on February 19, 2019 in Fairhope, Alabama.

## Release

It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019. It also was screened at AFI Fest on November 16, 2019. In January 2020, Roadside Attractions and Gravitas Ventures acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on January 22, 2021. Originally released in June 9, 2020 on U.S. Theatrical Release and the International Film Festival but we're delayed by coronavirus and moved to October 2020. Before the moved the current date.

## Critical Reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of 107 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "*Our Friend*'s occasionally frustrating approach to dramatizing its fact-based story is often offset by a trio of starring performances led by a never-better Jason Segel." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ella Kemp from *The Playlist* praised the performances stating: "The Friend is successfully anchored by its three leading players... The sensitivity of these performances, particularly from Affleck and Segel, offers a reckoning on sincere friendship and the limits of devotion that remains with the viewer, long after the days of waiting and the years of pain have finally come to an end."

Katey Rich of *Vanity Fair* said: "It succeeds by sticking closely to the important specifics ... It's a small-scale human story, precious few of which make it to film these days. It's also, if you're in the market for that kind of thing, an extremely effective tearjerker." Conversely, Peter Debruge of *Variety* wrote: "So much of the unpleasantness has been scrubbed from the picture, until what remains is precisely the kind of dishonest, sanitized no-help-to-anyone TV-movie version of death that inspired Teague to set the record straight in the first place."