Miss You, Love You puts two strangers together planning a funeral and watches as they work through grief, anger, resentment and loss by taking it out on each other.

Miss You, Love You is as much about who isn’t there as it is about who is there. The two people who are there are Jamie (Andrew Rannells) and Diane (Allison Janney).

Jamie arrives at Diane’s door to help her with the funeral of her second husband. Jamie and Diane don’t know each other. Jamie says he’s been sent by Diane’s son. He says he’s her son’s assistant and was asked to help with the funeral because her son was out of the country and couldn’t make it. Diane’s relationship with her son is the central theme holding this film together.

This is a talky movie. These two talk and argue and rage at each other, at their situation, and at their grief. As the days go by, we learn their secrets and what the real pain they hide is about.

These characters speak in long, perfectly written monologues. They move from point to point in a carefully crafted essay. It’s an unnatural way of talking that felt like it would work better on a stage than inside the intimacy of a film. Both of them are filled with pain and anger. Their conversations are brutal and confrontational.

All that powerful emotion did work in the end. Old hurts resolved, old truths revealed, new feelings explored. But it was a tough journey to watch. Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells both gave inspired performances. I expect Emmy nominations for this one.

There were moments of humor. Diane was killing a succulent by watering it to death. Diane hated her neighbor Judith (Bonnie Hunt) and wanted to use chicken bones scattered on the ground to let her know what happened to her little dog. There was a hospital bed in the living room. Diane offered Jamie a choice to sleep on that, or on the couch where her husband died. The door to the bathroom had been removed for wheel chair access. Thank goodness the writer and director, Jim Rash, included these lighter moments, because the film was heavy going for the most part.

You can see this one on HBO Max. If you watch it, please share your thoughts about it in the comments.