Don't Make Me Go

 Don't Make Me Go
Starring John Cho, Mia Isaac, Kaya Scodelario, Josh Thomson
Directed by Hannah Marks

There's been movies throughout cinematic history that seems to be heading in a certain direction and then all of a sudden they take a wild left turn that leaves the audiences stunned - and either this results in a "good" stunned or a "bad" stunned. A "good" stunned means that the audience is surprised by the twist, and actually likes it because it seems organic to the story as a whole after you think about it, while a "bad" stunned means that the audience thinks this sudden twist is only existing for the purpose of inducing some sort of emotional reaction from them that's not organically created, but manipulated instead. It's a risky move, and for movies like "Gone Girl" and "The Blair Witch Project," it paid off in dividends, and only time will tell if "Don't Make Me Go" will be remembered for its "good" or "bad" left-turn twist ending, but for me, it fell on the "bad" side.

Max Park (John Cho) is a single father to teenager Wally (Mia Isaac) and has just received devastating news: he has a brain tumor that'll kill him in a year, or he could risk a procedure to get rid of it, but survival rate is only 20%. Wanting to spend the most time he can with his daughter, Max opts out of the surgery and takes Wally on a cross country road trip to his old college reunion in hopes of finding Wally's mother, all the while keeping the secret from Wally. As the duo embark on their adventure, they grow closer as a father and daughter and also endure the pitfalls of teenage rebellion until Wally finally learns the truth, which shatters her very existence.

When the film starts off with Mia Isaac's character Wally stating "you're not going to like the way this story ends," it already sets you up for an emotional upheaval, which helps prevent the emotional manipulation card from being played at the end, but only for a fleeting moment. You'll forget this statement early on, as the film offers an almost jovial feel (complete with colorful font introducing what state the father/daughter duo are traveling through) and the upbeat music accompanying it, and when the turn comes, you're left rather speechless at the sheer abruptness of it all, thinking back to some of the clues that the film litters around that point to that conclusion. It's somewhat a cop out, as it wasn't even necessary - due to the tremendous performances and organic chemistry between John Cho and Mia Isaac, you're already sold on the fact that these two have been through the ringer together and have endured intense hardships before, so this twist moment feels contrived and a way to deliver a different ending than your typical family dramedy movie like this.

There's been some great father/daughter relationship films in the past, including "On Golden Pond," "Paper Moon," and most recently the underrated "Leave No Trace," and "Don't Make Me Go" seemed on par with such films. Until the twist, it's your typical father/daughter cross country adventure - only Wally doesn't know it could be the last one with her father, because he chooses to keep it a secret from her. Whether that's a right choice or not is an issue for debate (personally I think he should've told her beforehand, because then it would've had a more emotional depth to the entire proceedings, and would've changed the way Wally acted toward her father on the trip, but I can also see why he wouldn't want to tell her), but the film itself (the writer, Vera Herbert, also wrote for the NBC drama "This Is Us," which you can clearly tell in this sort of storytelling) is rather predictable until "that" moment - but unlike other cliched films, it's fine here due to the chemistry between the lead actors. From gambling at a casino to an impromptu visit to a nudist beach to singing karaoke and an awkward college reunion, you have a deeply vested interest in these characters, especially knowing as the viewer that the clock is ticking.

John Cho has stepped up his dramatic game from his comedic history of the "Harold & Kumar" films and has increased his cinematic credibility with films like "Star Trek" and especially 2018's webcam film "Searching," and "Don't Make Me Go" is another notch on his acting belt. He plays Max with a blend of jovial youthfulness (sleeping around with a much younger woman, played by an underutilized Kaya Scodelario) and single-father sensitivity, appearing to Wally as a boring adult, but managing to separate the two effectively. When he gets the potentially life-ending news, he doesn't take it like you'd expect from an overly melodramatic way, but a quiet acceptance that further made us appreciate his character - he didn't ham it up for emotional stakes, but played it more in a way that probably many real people facing this disease has.

Newcomer Mia Isaac excelled as Wally, showcasing everything a teenage girl experiences: her first crush, lying to her father about attending a party, wanting to experience the world, and everything in-between. You can associate with Wally due to Isaac's impeccable performance, which only serves as a strong starting point for this up-and-coming actress. You sense the traditional tug-and-pull between these two characters and it feels absolutely organic, like they really were father and daughter in real life. There's moments the two are getting along swimmingly and having a blast, and other moments where she showcases teenage embarrassment that many of us experienced growing up. 

Apart from the over-arching theme of familial loss, there's also the theme of fear as Wally and Max try to find Wally's mother, a woman who left them after she was born and hasn't reached out in all these years. I couldn't imagine how a child would feel thinking that they're not good enough for their parent to stick around, and it's this fear that Wally exhibits that showcases Isaac's incredible range at such a young age - she can go from joking around and heartfelt laughs to screams and tears in seconds, and all without feeling emotionally manipulative. It keeps your heart glued to the screen until...again...this final twist that ultimately shatters it but not in a "good" way.

There's a lot that I've said about this twist that'll probably have you considering watching the film (or reading a spoiler review of it), but this twist takes away from the adventure that precedes it. Though it's not an Oscar-worthy film, it's a heartfelt tale of a father and daughter's possible last ride, filled with all the pitfalls and cliches you expect, but delivered with emotional and believable performances that make up for the abruptly strange ending.

The Score: B+