I BUMPED INTO A FRIEND, WHO I had not seen for some time, and immediately noticed something different about their face and neck. It only took me a few seconds before I realized they no longer had a puffy neck. In his family, as they age, they develop folds in their neck, like a rooster or turkey neck. Honestly, it was nothing I ever paid attention to; it was simply his neck to me, nothing more. Evidently, it must have been bothering him if he went to the trouble of having some kind of work on it. Because of that change, I studied his face while we talked and realized he had more work done. He no longer had the bags under his eyes or the little lines and creases around his eyes. I did not know whether I should comment on his looks or not, so I decided to wait and see if he would say something. Sure enough after several minutes, he asked me if I noticed anything different about him. As a joke, I said it looked like he lost a little weight. He said not exactly, but he did have some work done on his face. I feigned surprise and then said I was trying to figure out what was different about him. He told me his neck and eyes had been bothering him to the point of depression, so he decided to get plastic surgery, and that he had never felt better about himself. I was happy for him and told him so.      AFTER WE PARTED, I THOUGHT ABOUT the things he said about himself. Now granted, I was not in his shoes, so I could not completely understand feeling bad enough about oneself to make such a change. I have never paid that much attention to the outside of someone’s body; what was on the inside intrigued me so much more. Maybe there will come a time when a feature of my body will illicit a strong reaction to have it altered. For the time being, this friend was no different to me compared to what he was before surgery. Whether he has a smooth neck, or a rippled one makes no difference to me as it should not make a difference to anyone else. Outside features have no bearing on a person’s character. What a person has inside, their attributes like kindness and empathy have more importance to me instead of someone dyeing their hair or getting a nose job. Friendship is an unconditional bond that can last a lifetime, and you can see it for yourself in this heartfelt documentary.      ON THE VERY FIRST DAY STARTING his career on Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell (Quiz Lady, Downhill) forged a bond with another “newbie” that turned into a friendship that has lasted over 30 years. Then one day Will received news that his friend transitioned into living their life as a woman. Will’s reaction was for the two of them to take a cross-country road trip. With Harper Steele (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Sage), Saturday Night Live-TV), Tina Fey (Date Night, A Haunting in Venice), Will Forte (Nebraska, The Last Man on Earth-TV), and Colin Jost (How to be Single, Saturday Night Live-TV) all playing themselves, this was a beautiful, thoughtful movie. With Will Ferrell, one can expect to have some humor interjected into the story. Sure, some stuff was staged but at the heart of this film, the story is about the bonds that connect two lifelong friends, and I must tell you it was a privilege watching these two friends navigate the altered landscape they now live in. This was done with a mix of sad, happy, scary, and thought-provoking scenes. The movie is a testament to the love and strength between two long term friends.                                                 

3 ½ stars