Grace is Gone Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: May 27th, 2008

Grace is Gone is an ultra downer of a film that will sap any happiness from your life in its hour and 30 minute run time and leave you in an empty state of hopeless depression.

The muted colors, the bleak lighting, and the soft piano music of Clint Eastwood’s score all add to a somber tone that you’ll need a month’s worth of hugs to recover from. A tearjerker that doesn’t wrench your heart, it slowly drains the love and joy from it until you’re as gloomy as the characters. A standard Kleenex box might empty, so I recommend a 6 pack of Charmin ultra stuffed three ply and a handful of Prozac.

Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) is the father of two adorable daughters and the husband of an American soldier serving in Iraq. His manager position at a local store is a simple part of his safe life in suburbia, where he carefully raises his family and waits for his wife Grace to return from the service.

When the uniformed military officers show up to deliver the bad news, he sits quietly while she’s honored for her bravery in the line of duty. Unable to talk about the death of their mother with his children, he stages an impromptu minivan ride to wherever they want to go.

The intended tender family vacation is a slow, plodding drive, like a road trip with your family without an exotic destination and a death mixed in with the luggage.

Somehow Grace is Gone is the complete opposite of Little Miss Sunshine. The quirky likability of that family is replaced in this movie by the deep, sunken melancholy of Stanley Phillips. Even the sunny glimpses of father-daughter bonding are a sorrowful occasion while the fate of their mother looms underneath.

John Cusack once again shows he’s a talented actor, especially considering his role consisted of one singular mood and a one-dimensional motive. But he took the lemons he was given and crafted them into brilliant frowny face lemon art. A great performance burdened by an inexperienced writer/directer in James Strouse.

The potentially divisive political material is handled fairly. A cushioned debate on the issues barely rises above a simmer and is delivered with the light evenness of a badminton match. You don’t have to worry about the preaching, just the gradual sinking into a spiritless haze of darkness.

Grace is Gone is effective as a weepy, heartfelt drama, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in particular just like I wouldn’t wish sadness on even the most annoying cheerleader. I’m going to go crawl into the fetal position now like Stanley Phillips.

3.5 out of 5.