Grace of My Heart

I was reminded of how really good this movie is today when I saw it on T.V. (with commercials ugh) I've seen it a few times before and every time I watch it, I bawl like a baby and I'm a guy. A really tough guy. But this movie goes straight to my heart and puts a squeeze on it through the wonderful music, the sweet nostalgia and what a cast!

Illeana Douglas is beautiful and she really plays her character with great talent. She's supported by a strong cast and how can you go wrong with Turturro playing Phil Specter? The first time I saw this there was something familiar about the music; the songs, like "God give me Strength". As much as I like Elvis Costello, that scene of Illeana performing it for Matt (Brian Wilson) Dillon was such a unique delivery of a pure and powerful vocal. I later found that the 'familiarity' is Burt Bacharach and the 'voice' is Kristin Vigard: Wow!

Back in those days there was such an explosion of music and creativity and Burt Bacharach was truly a pop force.

I loved the Brill Building scenes, especially when they were working on the songs. I thought the movie lost something when it moved west to California but was deeply moved by Douglas and Turturro 'having it out' at the empty poolside. The final song with the flashbacks and her crowning achievement of recording that "one great album" had me weeping again. I really like this movie so I ordered the DVD online.

I just want to write a few words about one of the best songs I've ever heard, a song that appears in this movie and that is part of a work made together by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello. "God Give Me Strengh" is the central theme of the movie. A pity that the version sung by Kristen Vigard doesn't appear in the movie album, but just listening to it (dubbing Illeana Douglass) during the movie is worth watching the movie...

Costello's version is also great, by the way. It's part of an album made together by he and composer Bacharach later in 1998, titled "Painted from memory". The movie is just entertaining, Illeana plays an amazing role.

I rented this movie a couple years ago because I like Illeana Douglas. I ended up buying 20 copies of it to give to friends as gifts for Christmas that year. The story is compelling, the cast is amazing...I can't believe more people don't know about this movie. The original music is great, too. The film moves seamlessly from the fifties through the seventies due in part to the talent of the actors, but also due to the impressive costume and makeup work and the wonderful original music written for each period. Y'know how people often say of good movies, "You'll laugh/You'll cry"? Well this is one of those.

First of all, this was NOT a "Carole King biopic." The character is called Denise Waverly, NOT Carole King. The character was loosely based on Carole King, just as other characters were LOOSELY based on people from the era.

Secondly, phony soundtrack? Ummmmmm . . .ok, wanna check out the composers on the soundtrack??

Finally, calling Ileanna Douglas a "dog" or "ugly" was perhaps the stupidest comment I have EVER seen on IMDB, and believe me, I've seen many stupid comments. Not only is she beautiful, she is also a wonderful actress who does an amazing job in this film. AND even if she was "ugly" (not my words), why should that hinder your enjoyment of the film? Give me a break.

If you don't like a film, at least do us all the favor of giving good reasons and at least ATTEMPT to make intelligent comments rather than the half-baked crap we see here.

This film was excellent. The soundtrack was amazing, the actors were even more amazing. 10/10

I love rock and roll movies set in the 60s, and this is a fun one. Illeana Douglas is wonderful as Edna Buxton/Denise Waverly, and yes, she's only loosely based on Carole King (makes me think a bit of Carly Simon, too, since she's an heiress). I think John Turturro is a hoot as Joel Millner, of course, he's always great. Eric Stoltz and Matt Dillon are impressive, too, although the movie loses some impetus and impact when Denise moves to California with Jay (Dillon's character). Still, it's one of my favorites--I just received my DVD the other day and watched all of the special features that evening. It's a fun (albeit sometimes sad)movie!!!