שלום! Sorry, but I no longer have time to read or write for this site. I wo...
שלום! Sorry, but I no longer have time to read or write for this site. I won't cancel my account but I won't be active anymore.
Member since:21.06.2000
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I've been a fan of Brenda Blethyn's since I first saw her in "Secrets and Lies" (for which she received an Academy Award Nomination). I was even more enthralled with her performance in "Girls Night" which I also reviewed here. And then she appeared in her most startlingly different role as the mother Mari Hoff in "Little Voice" (for which she got another Oscar nomination). So, when I saw the trailers for this movie, I knew I had to see it as soon as possible.
Ms. Blethyn gives another totally believable performance here, which isn't in the least bit surprising. What is surprising is that this character is very different than the parts she has played before. In "Secrets and Lies" and "Girls Night" she played mousey, shy retiring women. In "Little Voice" she wowed us with her brash, harsh and unlikeable character. More recently, her character in "Between the Sheets" showed us how she can play a prude who learns to unleash her sexuality.
Here, she is none of these - she plays the part of Grace Trevethyn, a just-beyond-middle
aged widow who has lived very comfortably all her life, only to find out after her husband's death that she is not only penniless, but heavily in debt. She is strong enough to accept the existence of her husband's mistress Honey (played by Diana Quick), but weak enough to know that her financial situation is close to hopeless. Grace is well aware of her strengths and weaknesses - the former being nothing more profitable than her skills as a gardener, who grows orchids (which could be a profitable endeavor, but, sadly not nearly enough to rid her of the tremendous financial difficulties that seem to mount with each scene).
Craig Ferguson co-wrote the screenplay for this film (with the story originator, Mark Crowdy) and also plays the part of Matthew, Grace's inept, but charmingly handsome Scottish gardener, who has been unsuccessfully growing pot in the garden of the Vicarage, of all places. His request for her able assistance in helping him revive his dying seedlings is what plants the seed for her scheme to instant solvency. I'm sure you can all guess what that is.
Woven into this plot is Matthew's relationship with Nicky, aptly played by relatively unknown Valerie Edmond, who pulls off another strong/weak woman part. In addition, the local doctor, played by Martin Clunes is an excellent comic relief (probably best known in the US for his performance as Gary Strang in "<British> Men Behaving Badly", and most recently <for me> in the part of William in 'William and Mary'. I understand he's expanded on this character from Saving Grace for his "Doc Martin" films/TV series). He is also in love with Nicky, while being in cahoots with Matthew in his illicit pot growing.
Set in picturesque Cornwall, Nigel Cole makes his big-screen film direction debut with this picture. Cole takes full advantage of all the possible twists a script like this can offer, and keeps the stereotypes to an absolute minimum - drawing upon them only when slapstick is the best medium for the joke at hand. Cole keeps gives every character an opportunity to be liked by the viewers - even if they are one of the 'bad guys'. With this, the film holds lovingly together and keeps the audience's attention to the very end. Moreover, the laughs are perfectly timed so that you've just finished wiping away a tear from the last one in time to catch the next one about to put you on the floor once again.
The one drawback - I was a little put off by the ending which I felt smoothed things over a bit too slickly. But, then again - we're talking straight comedy here and not romantic comedy, so why complain, right?
In sum, if you want to see a movie that will leave you smiling for hours and hours afterwards, this is the one to go see. And, you don't even need to get high to do so - in fact, you're better off going stone-cold sober. Who would want to miss any of the fun, right?
Thanks for Reading!
~~~~~ Technical Stuff: This is a review of the film only - as per the criteria below.
This is available on DVD on Amazon for £7.97, and on VHS for £5.99. The soundtrack is also available on Amazon for £11.99 (so expensive?).
As this movie is from 2000, it no longer has its own web site, but you can read more about it at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195234/ ~~~~~
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
A sweet, silly and sincere comedy,Saving Graceresembles a Cheech and Chong pothead comedy, ... more
only instead of two scruffy lowlifes the film is about an aimless Scottish gardener and a middle-aged widow with a green thumb. Grace (Brenda Blethyn ofSecrets a...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
A sweet, silly and sincere comedy,Saving Graceresembles a Cheech and Chong pothead comedy, ... more
only instead of two scruffy lowlifes the film is about an aimless Scottish gardener and a middle-aged widow with a green thumb. Grace (Brenda Blethyn ofSecrets a...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
When her husband jumped out of a plane without a parachute, Grace Trevethen knew life ... more
would get tough... but she had no idea just how tough. Left with a manor on the Cornish coast, a mountain of debt and dozens of creditors on her heels, she is about t...
Trevethen knew life would get tough...but she had no idea just how tough. Left with a ... more
manor on the Cornish coast a mountain of debt and dozens of creditors on her heels she is about to lose everything. But with Matthew the manor's caretaker Grace h...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Saving Grace [2000] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78537952.jpg "Saving Grace [2000] [DVD]")
Jan 24th, 2001
(Feb 17th, 2005)
exceptional by (5%):
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