Tickle Head, O Melhor Lugar Da Terra

'THE GRAND SEDUCTION': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Comedy flick about a small harbor community, in Newfoundland, who try to seduce a plastic surgeon, from a major Canadian city, into being their doctor. It's an English-speaking remake of the 2003 French-Canadian film 'LA GRANDE SEDUCTION' (which was set on the coast of Quebec). It was written by Michael Dowse and Ken Scott (the original movie's writer) and directed by Don McKellar. The film stars Brendan Gleeson and Taylor Kitsch (of 'JOHN CARTER', 'LONE SURVIVOR' and 'FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS' fame). I found the movie to be pretty silly at times but still funny and ultimately uplifting.

The story begins with Murray French (Gleeson) telling (through voice-over narration) how Tickle Head used to be a town of proud fishermen. Now nearly everyone is unemployed and collects welfare. Murray, like the other men of the town, desperately wants Tickle Head to secure a deal which would allow a chemical plant to be built there; this factory would create enough jobs for everyone. In order to do so they must have a community doctor. When Dr. Christopher Lewis (Kitsch) is stopped at the St. John's airport, with cocaine, the former mayor of Tickle Head (who is now a flight security agent) makes him a deal; Dr. Lewis must spend a month in Tickle Head as their doctor. It's up to Murray, and the whole town, to convince him to stay longer; which requires a lot of lying and seduction.

The movie isn't original at all; it reminds me of many other films, about small towns and trickery (most notably 'WAKING NED DEVINE'). A lot of the humor in it is pretty cheesy and some of the characters seem exaggerated. Still the movie does have a lot of character, and charm, and parts of it are pretty funny. The performances are great and, in the end, I really did care about the characters; the sentimentality of the film is what doesn't feel cheesy (unlike a lot of the jokes). That's why I liked it.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/ZEmam3XwQxw

I am not usually a fan of these types of movies, but my friends convinced me to see it and I am so very glad I did. It was funny and silly and very well acted. I must say the "Dr" was not hard on the eyes either.

The setting of Tickle Head was beautiful and reflects on the times in Newfoundland.

My husband saw the French version of the film years ago, but really enjoyed this version as well.

I would totally recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good laugh. There people of all ages teens to seniors in the theatre and we all laughed at the same times.

Tickle Head, a harbour in Newfoundland, has 125 souls who live mostly off welfare cheques now that the cod is gone. After his wife and even the mayor leave for work in St John's, Murray (Brendan Gleeson) thinks up a grand scheme to seduce a doctor to come live in the village. An oil company is looking to build a high-tech plant in the area, but one of the requirements is that the town have a doctor. To get the plant, they also have to get more people and get the cash together for a bribe.

They force young Paul Lewis (Taylor Kitsch) to come to the village and then try their hardest to please him so that he'll stay. However, it turns out the doctor is into jazz and cricket, cannot fish at all, and has a fiancée back home. Will their plan work?

This movie worked for me for a number of reasons. Gleeson holds the movie together with a superb performance. The scenery (filmed in Trinity) is gorgeous. The same could be said for Taylor Kitsch, who exudes magnetism and amiability in every scene. He can obviously act but I suspect he was just playing himself in this movie.

Inevitably much of the gentle and sometimes ribald humour revolves around the eccentric characteristics of the rural villagers. I don't know how accurate the bumbling Newfie hick thing is, but Gordon Pinsent and the rest played it to the hilt.

The movie went too far a few times but regardless I enjoyed it. It's worth about 7.5 but I'll round it up. It's nice to see a non-Hollywood movie like this for a change.

As the title suggests the movie might seduce you. It might sort of trick you into liking it. Why trick you? Because you could easily depict the movie and the story it tries to tell you. It would be very easy in fact. But it's not only the actors (Brendan Gleeson heading the group as "leader"), but also the way the story is portrayed.

You will know where this is going, so if you don't like predictable movies, you might want to stay away from this. But you'd be missing on a feel good movie, that really has a lot of heart. Taylor Kitsch might have done some movies that weren't successful and you might not think of him much, but he's doing a good job in this. He's convincing and carries the movie with the others through the finish line ... or whatever equivalent there is in the game he likes ...

This is a gentle movie, filled with gentle humour that brought smiles of delight to every one of our group of six. The scenes of the Newfoundland coast were breath taking. A great little story about a community struggling for survival. Another reviewer was dismayed by all of the citizens lining up for their welfare cheques. An exaggeration yes, because it is a film, but the key message he missed was how noble and honest, despite their desperate scam, the people of Newfoundland are. When I took my family for a vacation in Newfoundland we were mightily impressed by the scenic beauty but even more impressed by its people and their genuine interest in others. It made us proud to be Canadian and this film makes me proud of the Canadian film industry.