‘Don’t Make Me Go’ Review: A Journey Worth Taking

Don’t Make Me Go opens by directly telling you that you’re not going to like the way the story ends and hopes that you’ll like the story itself. Centering around a father whose been given a terminal diagnosis, it’s pretty easy to put two and two together. It’s a framing devise that is pretty familiar to cinema and is pretty easy to tug on those heartstrings. Even so, the film is propelled by the performance and chemistry of its two leads; John Cho and Mia Isaac. Like a good roadtip, Don’t Make Me Go is all about the journey and not just the destination.

After discovering he has a brain tumor with less than a year to live, single father Max (Cho) takes his rebellious teenage daughter Wally (Isaac) on a road trip across the country to find her to her estranged birth mother as well as hopefully bond and teach her a few life lessons along the way. Unaware of her father’s condition, Wally believes the whole trip to be a punishment for sneaking out to a party and wants to get it over as quickly and painlessly as possible. While initially distant, the two learn more about each other while on the road than they ever knew living under the same roof.

Don’t Make Me Go is one of those sappy comedy dramas that is all about taking advantage of the time you have left with the ones you love. What sets it apart from the rest of the bucket list dramedies is John Cho and Mia Isaac. The two are absolutely wonderful and perfectly capture the complexities of the father/daughter relationship whether he’s trying to act cool and embarrass her or she’s being distant and cold. For every one step forward Max makes in connecting with Wally there seems to be two steps backward one scene later.

To be honest, there aren’t too many surprises with the film as it’s story is pretty straight-forward, although it does somewhat take a few curves towards the end. It doesn’t make the plentiful heartwarming scenes any less touching. For adults, it’s an opportunity to try and better understand your teenagers, and vice versa for kids. Don’t Make Me Go straddles delivering themes that are relevant to both, although doesn’t dive to deep into either.

Don’t Make Me Go is a satisfying teenage drama about living life to the fullest and spending time with those you love, regardless of how much or how little time you have left. It’s not the best the genre has to offer, but performances from John Cho and Mia Isaac make this one film that is well worth watching, especially if you already have an Amazon Prime Video subscription.