Charming the Hearts of Men

This movie is set in an unspecified state in the deep south (filmed in Athens, Georgia) in 1963 and 1964. It includes the Civil Rights movement and President Johnson's Equal Rights push. What was being ignored, at least at first, was the issue of women's rights. The attitude was mostly, things are working well, let's not change things.

While this particular movie is fiction it certainly was inspired by real people and real events. I was graduating from high school and starting college in Louisiana then, my wife was about to finish middle school in New Orleans, we remember the times well.

This is a good movie of a significant subject, entertaining but also with a meaningful theme. My wife and I watched it streaming on Amazom Prime. The two key characters are British actress Anna Friel, doing an authentic accent as Southerner Grace Gordon, motivated to find something better after her father died and she found it hard to do business as a woman. And Kelsey Grammer as the US Congressman who was sweet on Grace and was to have a voice in including rights of women in the law.

Oh, how this could have been a grander film, on the level of The Help. But it isn't. That doesn't mean it's not without its charms. Lordy, does Grammar soar here in what he does like few others can -- character work with both whimsy and gravitas.

I am a product of the 60s South. Notice I did not say "proud" product. But I am still interested in well-told tales of the 60s South, and some come close. The Help came close. And this one comes even closer.

Hollywood has been flogging tales of the South since the first feature silent films. All kinds of stories. This one is a story about rights, but not merely race, but of sex. It tells that story in the lazy, slow way that the rural South did things. It's not punchy, it's not edgy, it's not delightfully written. It's langorously written. That makes for a bit duller entertainment, but it can also make for something that touches hearts.

This touches hearts, if you let it. It's not unforgettable, but it's also not disposable. It's in the middle.

Its faults are that it dances around themes a bit too much, tries to touch too many bases, and its resolution is a bit too saccharine, and a lot too easy. That said, it makes you feel good. And I bet that's what it was aiming for.

The title makes it sound like a romantic comedy, but it is much more than that. It tells how important history is made. I think the acting is good in this film.

I have heard about CHARMING THE HEARTS OF MEN through all of 2021 because it has Sean Astin (an actor I follow and usually like) in the cast but actually hadn't a chance of seeing it until last January, and didn't have that many expectations for it. When I saw it last January I simply liked it, nothing more.

The movie is set in 1964 during the Civil Rights movement when Grace Gordon (Anna Friel) returns in her home town in the South and discovers that while her options are limited, discrimination towards black people is plentiful and with the help of a congressman (Kelsey Grammer) she ends up inspiring historic legislation that allows opportunities and protections that were never given to women.

While the plot was a bit hard to understand and it was saved by the last 30 minutes, the acting is generally good and the settings nice. It was also nice seeing the Southern black people's lifestyle, with their singing and dancing moments and the like. Not certainly a must see but just a time passer and nothing more (well, not all movies are meant to be masterpieces, right?)

This is missing an open goal. Movies on racism in the south aren't a hard begining. But this movie takes that basic premise and slowly goes backwards with a slow boring story. Thankfully the civil rights movement didn't follow the same trajectory . A terrible waste of time and talent.