‘Sick Girl’ Review: Warning – Nina Dobrev’s Ailing Cancer “Comedy” May Be Harmful To Your Health

If you are going to do a so-called “hilarious” comedy dealing with cancer you better know how to do it. Unfortunately, writer/director Jennifer Cram, for her first feature film in those jobs, does not knock it out of the park.

Sick Girl which stars Nina Dobrev as Wren, a bit of a mess of a 30ish woman whose spur-of-the-moment little white lie about having cancer spirals out of control, would need a satirist along the lines of an Adam McKay to actually pull off this misbegotten comedy which is simply more cringe-inducing than funny, and Cram, whose previous work has been in Casting just can’t find the right tone to make it work. The premise may have sounded good on paper but it quickly turns into a one-joke idea stretched way beyond its worth. Lionsgate is opening this Friday day and date in theatres and VOD, the latter where it likely will go to die itself.

Opening with a flashback to better times and younger days, we meet a seemingly inseparable quartet of BFF girls in their carefree days of teendom. Cut to about 15 years later and the seams are beginning to show, particularly for Wren who drinks too much, smokes too much, has a dead-end day job and is clearly no longer feeling the connection with her core group of “lifelong” friends, becoming more of an outsider by the minute compared to the others who include Laurel (Sherry Cola) now more preoccupied with staying in shape and men; Jill (Hayley Magnus) occupied with family problems; and Cece (Stephanie Koenig) dealing with bringing up a difficult daughter.

Watching the bonds all slipping away from her, Wren in a desperate plea for attention, blurts out that she has cancer. She doesn’t, but this becomes the momentary lie that will consume her, even to the point of a doctor visit to hopelessly urge the doc to possibly find actual cancer to turn her fib into truth. That scene is actually amusing, but the way the cancer lie is dragged out, including when asked by her friends “What kind of cancer?”, she just makes things worse by exclaiming it is, uh, “tonsil cancer!” Oy. Soon the lie engulfs her parents (Wendi McLendon Covey, Dan Bakkedahl) who can’t understand why she never told them, and even reached out to a support group where she meets actual cancer patient Leo (Brandon Mychal Smith) and seems on the way to a promising relationship, but again, built on the big lie.

There have been real life stories about people faking serious life threatening diseases to earn sympathy, and even money via GoFundMe-type opportunities. Movies and TV shows have milked this kind of material too, but usually where the main character mistakenly believes they are dying, but this “comedy” feels mean spirited in that Wren carries it on as those around her show real empathy and concern, even to the point of her BFF’s shaving their hair off in solidarity, a bridge too far as it turns out. The latter is meant to get a big laugh, but it just feels pathetic. Sure, there is lip service paid to chastizing Wren for doing this to those around her, but it only comes after the idea is exhaustively exploited for comedic purposes. Dobrev is a talented actress but it just doesn’t make sense why she would let this all go so far. Oh wait, I know, Cram has to make a 98-minute movie about all of it. Most of the supporting roles are pretty one dimensional, with the likeable Cola seen to greater effect earlier this year in another girl bonding comedy from Lionsgate, Joy Ride. Smith really becomes the most recognizable human being in the whole enterprise, but that is small praise.

Producers are Sean McEwen, Jessica Wilde, Cassidy Lunnen, and John Papsidera.

Title: Sick Girl
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: October 20, 2023 – theatres and VOD
Director/Screenplay: Jennifer Cram
Cast: Nina Dobrev, Sherry Cola, Hayley Magnus, Stephanie Koenig, Dan Bakkedahl, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Brandon Mychal Smith
Running Time: 1 hour and 38 minutes
Rating: R