Good Grief

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.

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.

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.

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.

The directing is quite good, image and general aesthetic are qualitative, acting decent, the dialogues bring at time some sort of accuracy; I liked the promise behind the synopsis and what the letter brings.

However it doesn't deliver properly, I have not been fully satisfied with any of the aspects of the development, of the characters. Even though it sometimes felt right, the whole thing was a bit tasteless, seen before and didn't drag me into the story.

It's as shame, as many ingredients were there to make a good movie, but it is just average and a bit cringy at times. I liked that the romance was treated as a normal romance rather than gay stereotypes, but I would have enjoyed a better development. The secondary characters aren't especially likable, and some moments or conversations just didn't felt right.

I don't know if it should have been spiced up a bit or just more focused but the result wasn't pleasant enough to want me to watch it again sometimes. I like movies about grief and overcoming it, but they should also uplift and bring some more feel-good to finish it with satisfaction.