Saving Grace
Don't you love those cute British comedies that come out every year? They always have a quaint charm and tell a rather unusual story in a breezy, lighthearted matter. As a critic it's difficult to review these films because they're just so good overall you can't really narrow it down to the specifics that made it work so well. "Saving Grace" is a good example of what I'm talking about. Its story is approached with all the delicacy of a children's tale, but at the core it's a smart, mature black comedy Americans don't usually have the patience for.
If I were to break to story down to the basics you might think it was about poor people living in the ghettos of New York or Los Angeles, etc. It's about a woman whose husband just died and left her with so much debt she can't possibly pay it all back and is dangerously close to losing her house. Her friends are pot-smokers without much ambition who spend most of their free time drinking and fooling around. There's also an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, a police officer who looks the other way, a big drug deal at the end and many funny scenes of people getting high.
But consider the circumstances of the film: it's set in present-day England; the protagonist is a very nice white woman in her 50s who has never really worked and is only good at gardening, making tea and playing cards with the other ladies. The pot-smokers and drinkers are her young housekeeper, his dedicated girlfriend and their friend who happens to be a medical doctor. The cop is a man who should probably have retired a long time ago, but then again this is the English countryside - not too much chance he's going to get into a shootout or a car chase with criminals.
As for the scenes of people getting high, well, that's what the film is all about - the last people you'd expect or even want to see smoking marijuana not only are but are also growing it! If you're conservative that idea might offend you, heck, if you're liberal you might be offended by the idea of people other than 20-something college kids smoking weed. But it's not like there's scenes of huge bong hits and blacklite posters and roundtable discussions of stoned philosophy. It's funny in that fish-out-water way only because this is the kind of situation in which that formula works very well.
This all comes about because the main character ,Grace (Brenda Bleythen), needs to raise at least £300,000 fast and can't think of a better way to do so than to put her gardening techniques towards growing a product that's worth a lot more than tea leaves and roses. She's a master gardner and the progress she makes with her crop is pretty amazing. I know nothing about the growing and cultivation of marijuana but what she does with it is really amazing (did I mention the funny scenes of people being stoned?).
Of course there's also a story going on throughout this whole thing. It's not "Cheech and Chong Go to England" - it's really not. What it is is a clever black comedy that approaches committing a felony as if it were nothing. If you believe marijuana is bad and should be illegal that's fine, but the story is presented in such a manner than you know Grace and her gang aren't hurting anyone. You're also hoping she can somehow pull off this scam of a lifetime and get away with it. You'll probably be surprised by what actually happens, especially at the end.
What it all comes down to is "Saving Grace" is a funny, enjoyable film with a smart story and despite its risque subject matter doesn't come off as preachy. That's an accomplishment we don't usually get with most of our Hollywood flicks.
GRADE: B
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