1) Spectacular cast, which lets you look past the fact that it's a remake (I haven't watched the original)
2) Great acting by Kate Winslet (as a dork) except while delivering one cringy line. Sam Neill obviously nails the crying scenes to perfection.
3) The tone is very off putting at times. I'm not sure but the Americanised crass way of bringing up the topic of death every 5 seconds by the younger cast, felt exhausting (is that in the original too?)
4) The g@y thing is handled very well and doesn't seem forced by today's standards.