Don’t Make Me Go is an Amazon Prime original with an emotional time bomb at its core. You know it’s coming and you know it’s probably going to wreck you and the longer the movie goes and the longer you learn to love these lovely people, the more its gonna hurt. And how you feel about the actual explosion will determine if you come away mad, sad, or annoyed. But I don’t hold that against the movie.

The flick stars John Cho as a father who has just gotten some pretty devastating news about his health. Instead of telling his fifteen year old daughter, he takes her on a road trip across America so she can meet her mother… the only other relative she has who abandoned her as a child.

John Cho does his usual best as this sad but proud papa, a man who used to be cool but has grown into a responsible, loving papa. His daughter is played wonderfully by newcomer Mia Isaac who only has one other acting credit… another 2022 movie. She’s great and comes straight out of nowhere.

I laughed and smiled warmly at this gentle, sweet flick. It’s not a dopey movie and it doesn’t sugarcoat everything… this father/daughter combo bicker and laugh and come together and break apart in very believable ways. Cho and Isaac are a great cinematic team and they make this work.

Yes, it has that emotional timebomb and it works as a variant on the old Hitchcock definition of the difference between a scare and suspense. We know he’s going to have to fess up about his condition and the longer it goes, the more you know it’s going to hurt. And it really is a powder keg that blows during an earnest, emotional, intelligent, and honest scene. And then the movie continues.

You might ultimately want to throw your popcorn when the credits roll or you might smile wistfully and sadly. At least the narration warned you in advance you might not like the ending. I’m there too but I still think it’s a warm hug of a movie with great talent and chemistry between a father/daughter team.

Score: 87