So much to love, so much to hate in this film.Loved the acting, love the characters, love the script. But the story is garbage. Why would anyone not share their cancer diagnosis with those they most love? Why would a woman leave her children with a strange neighbor who just moved in and met less than a minute ago? Why would a husband not ask where his wife was after she spent the night sleeping in a laundermat. Why would a woman choose to be so incredibly selfish to her two young girls instead of giving them the chance to learn about death and say goodbye?The main character's actions and motivations make no sense anyway, because we have no context for her behavior before or after her diagnosis. I was bored through most of the movie anyway. Watch it for the acting, not the story.

"It's better to forget, than to remember me and cry." - The Cure Isabel Coixet's "My Life Without Me" stars Sarah Polley as a hard working mother who learns that she has but a few months left to live. Polley keeps her impending death from her kids and husband, and begins instead to write and record a series of notes and tapes for her family. Through this material she hopes to "be with them" long after she has passed away. Polley's impending demise is mirrored to the lives of various other characters, including her own mother. Though these characters are alive, they wade through life like the walking dead, treading water in a world rife with pain, disappointment and morbid suffocation. Elsewhere Polley spends her last months indulging in various experiences, most notably an adulterous love affair with a character played by Mark Ruffalo.Polley and Ruffalo - two underrated actors - are as powerful as they often are, and the film contains a number of neat little moments which are sensitively directed and well acted. The film's overall plot, though, is well worn. It's hard to elevate material like this, or take it interesting, new places. The film's sentimental and predictable and the cast, who are often wonderfully raw, deserve much better.7.5/10 – Worth one viewing.

Aside from a couple good acting performances, this film has nothing going for it. A (very) young woman finds out she has only a couple months to live, and takes this news as if she had been told her car needed a new transmission. Get a second opinion? No--why bother? See an oncologist? Nah... Just ask for candy from the doctor and make a few tapes for people to listen to after you're dead.So, we don't get to witness any real emotional response from the main character. And because she refuses to tell anyone she's dying, we don't get to experience any other characters' responses, either. The whole film is thus boring, tedious and pointless.The role of the "other man" is underplayed and just... weird. The voiceovers don't add much, and even if they attempted to, it would be a cheap, easy way out.But of course, any movie with a person dying of cancer gets an automatic 8-to-10 vote from most people. Ridiculous.Please rate this review as "not helpful". I WANT you to!

I do not get this movie. I understand it , but I do not get it. The idea of this movie is to, at the very least, really feel sorry for the protagonist.Sorry, but I could not. Surely the writers could have filled the 2 hrs of this movie with something other than a very selfish, dying, young lady. Its obvious to me that this woman had a hard life. The fact is she loved her kids and husband and from all practical purposes her husband was a great guy. Why would it be on her list, to begin with, to cheat on her husband? Why would it be on her list to want someone else to fall in love with her? Very selfish for a woman that is dying. Really selfish for anyone. I just found this offensive and do not like when a movie treats me like an idiot. Unfortunately, she found a guy that would fulfill her warped bucket list choices. This movie really did have the ingredients of greatness. The acting was very articulate and it had that Sundance feel to it. Its just a shame that the writers felt the need to go into the gutter with the plot line.