Saving Grace
3/4
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, Valerie Edmond, Martin Clunes, Tcheky Karyo
Rated R for Drug Content and Language
No one does the feel-good comedy quite like the Brits. The list of successes in this type of movie has made it a genre unto itself. Examples include "Waking Ned Devine," "The Full Monty," "Pride" and many others. Add "Saving Grace" onto this list. Although the comedy is uneven, it's impossible not to like and contains more than a few hilarious bits.
Grace Trevethan (Blethyn) is living a life of luxury in a small coastal English town. Then her husband dies (he went skydiving but forgot to open his parachute). About a month later, she finds out that his death may have not been as accidental as everyone thought. Mr. Trevethan had made a number of investments that didn't pan out and used the house as collateral. Facing the loss of everything, Grace believes there is no hope until her groundskeeper Matthew (Ferguson) comes to her with a problem. He's secretly growing some pot (behind the church, no less), but isn't very good at it. So he asks Grace, who is a master gardener, for help. That gives her an idea: use her skills as a gardener to make some high-class marijuana, sell it for some quick cash, and all her problems are over. The idea is sound, but keeping it a secret is a whole different matter.
The key to this movie's success is that we like Grace and Matthew, and we do. Sure, what they're doing is illegal, but they're good people and we want them to succeed. The key to film's comedy is adding pot-based humor to the stiff-upper-lip nature of British cinema. It's one thing for Seth Rogen to get high and act like a man-child. That's been done to death, and it isn't very funny because everyone knows that a man-child always has a few joints around. But when some members of the garden club mistake marijuana for tea leaves, well, that's different.
It's hard to imagine anyone playing Grace than Brenda Blethyn. Her tiny voice and perpetually pursed lips are emblematic of British culture. But she has a fine talent, allowing the character to earn our sympathy without a word, and to enjoy watching this polite lady grow a backbone and charm a drug lord (Karyo) whose bark is worse than his bite. Craig Ferguson, best known for his talk show and playing Gobber in the "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise, is perfectly affable as Matthew. He may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he loves Grace as much as he loves his girlfriend Nicky (Edmond) and will protect her from anyone, be it drug lords or the repo men.
The easygoing tone of "Saving Grace" is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, this movie is quite charming and I can't imagine anyone being in a sour mood by the end of it. On the other, it's a bit bland. The film plays it a bit too safe. With a little more wickedness in the humor or more complications, it could have been stronger both dramatically and comically.
Still, it's hard to resist as is.
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, Valerie Edmond, Martin Clunes, Tcheky Karyo
Rated R for Drug Content and Language
No one does the feel-good comedy quite like the Brits. The list of successes in this type of movie has made it a genre unto itself. Examples include "Waking Ned Devine," "The Full Monty," "Pride" and many others. Add "Saving Grace" onto this list. Although the comedy is uneven, it's impossible not to like and contains more than a few hilarious bits.
Grace Trevethan (Blethyn) is living a life of luxury in a small coastal English town. Then her husband dies (he went skydiving but forgot to open his parachute). About a month later, she finds out that his death may have not been as accidental as everyone thought. Mr. Trevethan had made a number of investments that didn't pan out and used the house as collateral. Facing the loss of everything, Grace believes there is no hope until her groundskeeper Matthew (Ferguson) comes to her with a problem. He's secretly growing some pot (behind the church, no less), but isn't very good at it. So he asks Grace, who is a master gardener, for help. That gives her an idea: use her skills as a gardener to make some high-class marijuana, sell it for some quick cash, and all her problems are over. The idea is sound, but keeping it a secret is a whole different matter.
The key to this movie's success is that we like Grace and Matthew, and we do. Sure, what they're doing is illegal, but they're good people and we want them to succeed. The key to film's comedy is adding pot-based humor to the stiff-upper-lip nature of British cinema. It's one thing for Seth Rogen to get high and act like a man-child. That's been done to death, and it isn't very funny because everyone knows that a man-child always has a few joints around. But when some members of the garden club mistake marijuana for tea leaves, well, that's different.
It's hard to imagine anyone playing Grace than Brenda Blethyn. Her tiny voice and perpetually pursed lips are emblematic of British culture. But she has a fine talent, allowing the character to earn our sympathy without a word, and to enjoy watching this polite lady grow a backbone and charm a drug lord (Karyo) whose bark is worse than his bite. Craig Ferguson, best known for his talk show and playing Gobber in the "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise, is perfectly affable as Matthew. He may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he loves Grace as much as he loves his girlfriend Nicky (Edmond) and will protect her from anyone, be it drug lords or the repo men.
The easygoing tone of "Saving Grace" is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, this movie is quite charming and I can't imagine anyone being in a sour mood by the end of it. On the other, it's a bit bland. The film plays it a bit too safe. With a little more wickedness in the humor or more complications, it could have been stronger both dramatically and comically.
Still, it's hard to resist as is.
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