FOR BEING SUCH A SMALL WORD “loss” packs a massive amount of emotion inside of itself. Some time ago, I lost a pair of sunglasses and was both sad and annoyed from it. I also have lost a loved one and was so upset I did not leave the house for several days; the loss felt like I had a massive boulder perched on my back that was trying to keep me pinned to the ground. When I was heavily dieting and lost several pounds, I was beyond elated and felt like I was floating on air. This is why I say “loss” has such a wide amount of emotions attached to it. I also know every single person reacts differently when they experience loss. I knew a woman who lost their husband to a disease and I swear, you would never know she was a grieving widow. She acted the same as she did when he was alive, cheery and upbeat. I did notice however she always kept herself busy. Either meeting relatives and friends for lunch or going shopping or working on puzzles at home, she never allowed herself time to relax because she was afraid her mind would dwell on her significant loss. There is no right or wrong way to handle the sense of loss; everyone is different.      ONE OF MY EARLIEST ENCOUNTERS WITH loss was when I lost my first wristwatch. I received it as a birthday gift when I was in elementary school. It had a superhero on the face of it and the plastic band looked like metal; I thought it was the coolest thing. After spending a day with friends, coming home for dinner, I realized it was no longer on my wrist. I wanted to go out at night and retrace my steps with the hope of finding it. My parents would not let me; so, in the morning I tried finding it to no avail. At the time it was one of the most traumatic things that happened to me. It was many years later when I experienced one of the heaviest losses of my life. It was one of the hardest times of my life; one moment I was with the love of my life and the next minute they were gone. It was awful; hard to comprehend and process to the point where I felt like I was not functioning anymore in the real world. Friends and family tried to help but I was not at a place where I could accept their kindness. It was that time of my life where I fully understood how loss can deplete a person of all their dreams and hopes. Because of it, I became better equipped to be empathetic towards others who suffered a loss. I wish I could have helped the couple in this comedic drama.      SUFFERING WITH GRIEF A MARRIED COUPLE take different paths on how to deal with it. One of them wants to kill a bird. With Melissa McCarthy (Thunder Force, The Kitchen) as Lilly Maynard, Chris O’Dowd (Molly’s Game, The Program) as Jack Maynard, Kevin Kline (Ricki and the Flash, No Strings Attached) as Dr. Larry Fine, Timothy Olyphant (Snowden, A Perfect Getaway) as Travis Delp and Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Wonder) as Ben; this film was carried by Melissa, Chris and Kevin for the most part. Besides having incredible comedic timing, Melissa has the ability to be convincing when she is in a serious role. The script was poorly done in my opinion because the characters did not feel like they were fully developed, along with several scenes feeling forced to try and tug at our heartstrings. Nonetheless, I was engaged throughout the story; even when it would drag at times. Due to the acting, after I was done watching I did not feel like I lost time that I would never be able to get back.

2 ¼ stars