Some of you may be looking at the title here and thinking “what the hell is Paddleton?” Well, hear me out. Because of its weird name, I feel like it’s an easy movie to dismiss, but if you do then you’re missing out. Since there wasn’t really anything to watch in theaters that I wanted to see, I decided to browse some new movies on Netflix and see what I could find. I came across Paddleton and wasn’t hooked until I saw the trailer. Now, I’m very glad I watched it, because it’s one of the best “cancer movies” I’ve seen in a long time.

One of the things that makes Paddleton so unique to me is the dynamic that it portrays. Most “cancer movies” usually depict how the diagnosis impacts a person’s significant other or family member, but Michael doesn’t really have anyone like this close to him, so when he gets his cancer diagnosis, things play out a bit differently. However, just because we don’t see a wife, parent, or kid doesn’t mean that no one cares about Michael. On the contrary, Michael’s neighbor Andy is his closest friend, and the person who he spends all of his time with. Andy cares deeply about Michael, and so he becomes a bit devastated at Michael’s news. Michael seems to be handling it much better than Andy is, and actually wants to buy a medicine that will kill him so that he won’t have to wait around for it to get extremely painful. Andy tries to support this, but it becomes apparent pretty quickly that he’s against this decision. And so, Paddleton explores the unique relationship between these two men, and the results are really captivating.

This is probably going to be extremely obvious, but the best thing about Paddleton is easily the relationship between Andy and Michael. I’ve seen how cancer can affect a friendship in a movie like 50/50, but I’ve never quite seen it be the sole focus of a movie like it is in Paddleton, and so I thought this was a really interesting story to focus in on. This is greatly helped by some excellent performances from both Ray Romano and Mark Duplass, but the writing really stands on its own too.

If I have one complaint about Paddleton, it’s just that its first act stumbles a bit. There are some scenes early on that aren’t as intriguing as they could be in the moment, but they do eventually pay off in the end. It’s definitely the kind of movie that builds as it goes along, and so what may not have been the best material early on quickly turned into a finale that had me in tears by the end. Part of this is par for the course with a “cancer movie,” but I still consider it a huge strength of the movie that it’s able to make me invested in a relationship that’s heartbreaking to watch end.

I recognize that movies like this tend to have their target audiences in mind. There are some people that hate watching these kinds of movies, and others that are suckers for them (such as myself). I do consider it to be one of the best in the genre from recent memory, but this is mainly because of an interesting relationship, great performances, and some good comedic scenes that help alleviate the tension. Most of you will already know whether this kind of movie is up your alley, but for those that can go either way with this sort of thing I’d say that Paddleton is one of the ones that’s worth checking out.

4.5/5