“Miss You Already,” a likably gushy celebration of female friendship, sometimes feels like a throwback to the Drew Barrymore of the mid-’90s: At times you wonder if she and co-star Toni Collette might actually break out into a lip-sync-with-hairbrushes routine. But cancer is this dramedy’s main (actually, only) bad guy, so director Catherine Hardwicke (“Twilight”) never goes that silly.

Still, there are plenty of lighthearted, if somewhat predictable, moments between earthy Jess (Barrymore) and glamorous Milly (Collette), friends from childhood, whose lives are derailed when Milly is diagnosed.

Morwenna Banks’ screenplay does a nice job of making their respective husbands (Paddy Considine and Dominic Cooper) more than the usual rom-com gender stereotypes, and Jacqueline Bisset brings a bit of bite as Milly’s actress mother. But the film belongs to Barrymore and Collette, who generate a palpable BFF chemistry that will defy you not to be choked up by the time the credits roll.