Good Grief

Good Grief delivers a compelling narrative with Dan Levy's standout performance stealing the spotlight. He knows what he is doing and what he wants to achieve and he does that well, with raw, honest emotions. His portrayal is both captivating and, at times, a tad obnoxious, but if it is part of the storytelling, I accept it.

The storytelling is enriched by a well-curated musical backdrop. I love the music.

However, the subplot involving his female friend feels somewhat disjointed, lacking the depth that could have enhanced the overall experience. It's a little bit too much, for my taste.

While the film offers a love story, it falls short of exploring the characters' personalities and stories in a more profound manner.

In Good Grief, Dan Levy creates a morose take on the rom-com, dealing head-on with the different ways grief affects people. The idea is strong in that it's different, and maybe even innovative, to try to place grief at the center of a film like this--but it would have taken a more deft hand and a little more digging to make this work. I think Levy might have served himself better had he chosen someone else to play the lead. Then he could have given that actor more challenging scenes to work with, maybe even had him struggle with sorrow and loss. Instead, the film comes off as the story of a pampered man who seems to lack depth. There needed to be more of an idea than: three friends go to Paris with what seems like an endless expense account to shake off the blues.

Passion is the yin to grief's yang--and this film lacks passion. We sense no real sparks between Levy and Evans early in the film, and even less when he mets the French Theo in Paris. When we see two actors kissing passionately, we need to feel the heat, feel that they can barely control themselves in the moment. Levy does not seem up to it and that affects the whole film. His sadness is more like that of a person who didn't get the table he wanted in a tony restaurant.

There was a better film hiding in here.

Definitely fits into the underwhelming category based on the well known writing capability of Dan Levy. I liked the concept, but don't think it delivered. The opening segment was anticlimactic and didn't illicit the expected empathy, it was almost like "okay... now what". And the now what, was three self obsessed people pretending to be friends and having mostly meaningless conversations. The characters were all for the most part unlikeable, and therefore it didn't matter to me if they got "happy endings" and dealt with their hangups. Overall, okay, no depth to characters or story. I feel no need to ever watch again.

For those who cherish Daniel Levy from the humor and escapism Schitt's Creek provides, this is not that... adjust your lens and your expectations. This is a beautiful film that portrays real life in a myriad of ways and the actors do a fantastic job sharing that story. This felt very ready for the stage yet as a film it never gave me the release I tend to crave. No high highs, no drastic lows... just a restrained and even keeled world in which the characters still remain in tact. Not exactly what I hoped it might be, but still has its place and I'm happy it exists, especially to offer greater representation of many underrepresented communities.

Beautifully filmed in London and Paris. Excellent cinematography and set decoration. And just the right pacing of motion and lighting by first time movie direction from Daniel Levy, who also wrote, produced and stars in his unique story of love, loss, sadness and friendship. Its so refreshing to see a story of queer love without seeing guys just ripping off their shirts for one night stands. Not much happiness is found here, but that's what makes this so true to life. I highly recommend watching this on Netflix and look forward to seeing what's next from Daniel Levy. Don't watch this looking for comparison to Shitts Creek, it's about 180° opposite.