Grace Is Gone (2007)

disgusting, overrated, pointless

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Don't read if you don't want to know just a few details about this movie.My review is going to be well thought out, but it wont do justice to this movie, my review is an attempt to get to this movies heart, which is a terrible loss to a husband and father, who has just been told tragic news.Shelan O'Keefe, John Cusack, and Gracie Bednarczyk, deserve equal Oscars for their power house performances in this excellent but very sad movie.This film's premise is simple. John Cusack's wife is killed on duty in the Middle East, but he cannot tell his daughters.So on hearing this news from two high ranking solders on his front door, he takes his two little girls of on a road trip to have fun, he tells them.And this they do, including a trip to a fair ground, and a couple of department stores.There are several very poignant moments in this film,which tell us about the loving relationship he has with his two little children.There is a scene where he rings from an outside line, his own home answer phone, to hear his wife calling home, and then he asks his wife what he should do about telling his children the sad news ? At the end of the film, he drives to a secluded beach and delivers the tragic news as best he can, it is then that his two little girls react in uncontrollable tears, as you will too.A first rate gentle movie. 10 stars easily. More if I could.

I had assumed that the reason Grace Is Gone had done so poorly at the box office was because people did not want to see a film with a depressing premise in the middle of a massive recession, and a still-raging war. Now, after viewing, I realize that the low turnout was probably more due to the fact that it's simply not be a very good film. The movie starts out strong, but it's all downhill after the first 10 minutes. It moves at a glacial pace, the plot does not appear to be well thought out, the dialogue is pedestrian, the actions of the main character strain credibility, and there is not one remotely surprising moment in the entire film. Not to mention that it is shot in quite the banal fashion, with sloppy, clichéd camera setups, which don't do much for the visuals in the film. I'll take blatant sentimentality, (don't worry, there's some of that too), over complete boredom any day. I was surely not looking for car chases or gunfights, but simply something to hold my attention, which can be done with the simplest of stories. The director simply seems to lack experience or confidence in trying to tell the story in any other way than he imagined it when writing the script. And from script to screen is where an good idea turns into a great film.The script itself seems without focus and a bit amateur; the type that will occasionally win screen writing competitions, but will almost never make it to the big screen. I can only imagine that the main reason the film was even made was because it piqued the interest of its star, John Cusack. However, a great role (and Cusack is indeed quite good here), does not make up for a film that goes nowhere. There are whole scenes that could've been cut in half, but instead the actions, or lack thereof, of the characters are lingered on with a preciousness that those moments do not deserve. We all know that kids annoy each other and their parents. We don't need 20 shots of this. I can only imagine the disappointment of a couple, who paid for a babysitter and a night out at the movies, and was treated to the insipid, maudlin environment they could've seen by simply staying at home with their own kids. It's a subject matter that had a lot of potential and could've been quite the good film if handled more deftly.

James Strouse (director/writer), should have cut loose of his "baby" and given it to someone with experience shooting a movie. Obviously, everyone called in favors to get this movie finished. Why is Steve Martin listed as Executive Producer in the DVD and not on IMDb? Did someone rethink their association? I felt this movie was sad and it had nothing to do with the story line. Cusak, I am sorry. I love you, dude. Your acting is great. This movie was not. I always fall asleep on nights we rent movies. This movie kept me awake because I could not believe this was written, produced, released. Are you kidding me? Everyone, think about what films you are investing in. Does your gut tell you, "This is not helpful to the world at large"? Go with your gut. Write a movie about your gut and all of it's complexities. And when your gut is driving to a Florida theme park, try not to use a carmount in that scene.

This is a moving story of a man whose wife, a soldier, is killed in Iraq, and the almost unbearable task placed on him to tell his two daughters, aged 9 and 12, the terrible news. John Cusack played the part of the of the husband of the dead wife, and father of the girls, superbly. I tried to put myself in his position, having to break the news of their mother's death to the two youngsters, and it almost brought me to tears, as the end of the movie actually did.This movie is a fitting tribute to the young Americans who fight and sometimes die for the country and for the families of those who wait for their return; when sometimes the waiting is in vain.Whether the war is a just or unjust war or whether it's useless debacle, young men and women die whilst fulfilling what is, in their mind, their duty. The validity of the war detracts nothing from their heroism.