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“I’m the dying guy!” Paddleton (2019) and how to help your dying friend
A film review
Paddleton (2019) is an emotional story co-written by Mark Duplass and Alex Lehmann, directed by Lehmann, that explores the tensions between friendship, choice, and suicide.
Michael (played by Duplass) and Andy (Ray Romano) are two best friends living in a suburban condo. They spend their days watching their favourite movie, eating pizza, and playing an invented ball game called Paddleton. Their steady routine takes a drastic turn when Michael decides to commit medical suicide rather than face terminal stomach cancer. Andy struggles to accept this choice, but decides to support his best friend instead.
The movie distinctly ignores taboos around assisted suicide, as the two embark on their first and final road trip together. This is wholesomely non-political unlike many films and books about this topic, for example, ‘Me Before You.’ The world of Paddleton is very small, intimate and emotional because of this choice.
The film lends more screen time to Andy than to Michael, which is unusual for stories depicting terminal illness, which tend to follow the…
