IMDb RATING
6.9/10
8.5K
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After getting divorced, Griffin learns that he has cancer and a year left to live. However, his outlook on life changes when he meets Phoenix.After getting divorced, Griffin learns that he has cancer and a year left to live. However, his outlook on life changes when he meets Phoenix.After getting divorced, Griffin learns that he has cancer and a year left to live. However, his outlook on life changes when he meets Phoenix.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
- Student
- (as Jesse Ferguson)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
GRIFFIN & PHOENIX is a quiet little made for television film that touches the vulnerable heart. Originally written in 1976 as a television film by John Hill, this thirty-years-later version holds up well, and the fact that audiences will still opt for sensitive stories that treat difficult topics in a mature manner, adding warmly humorous touches to a potentially maudlin idea, speaks well for our continuing tastes.
From the opening frames of the film we learn that Griffin (Dermot Mulroney) has inoperable cancer: his frank and compassionate physician (Lois Smith) aligns him with reality. Griffin is a divorced father of two boys and his first attempt to find meaning in his limited time is to spend time with them, an attempt partially thwarted by his ex-wife. Once a workaholic, Griffin attends a class on death and dying at the university and there he meets the rather strange and isolated Phoenix (Amanda Peet). Griffin's new take on life encourages him to go after the seemingly impenetrable Phoenix and through a series of wildly frivolous escapades he courts her and they gradually fall in love - something neither felt they could do. They cope with issues of intimacy and finally Phoenix shares her secret with Griffin, a secret that plunges them headlong into a fully blossomed romance. How the two cope with the inevitable is well handled, rarely bordering on sappy, and always holding our compassion.
Director Ed Stone paces the film well, inserting moments of extended silence to match the emotional atmosphere, allowing breathing space. Both Peet and Mulroney create believable three-dimensional characters and are well supported by such solid actors as Lois Smith, Sarah Paulson, and Novella Nelson. The story may have sad aspects, but the cast always allows the humor inherent in any life event to come through. And that is one of the several reasons the film works well. Grady Harp
From the opening frames of the film we learn that Griffin (Dermot Mulroney) has inoperable cancer: his frank and compassionate physician (Lois Smith) aligns him with reality. Griffin is a divorced father of two boys and his first attempt to find meaning in his limited time is to spend time with them, an attempt partially thwarted by his ex-wife. Once a workaholic, Griffin attends a class on death and dying at the university and there he meets the rather strange and isolated Phoenix (Amanda Peet). Griffin's new take on life encourages him to go after the seemingly impenetrable Phoenix and through a series of wildly frivolous escapades he courts her and they gradually fall in love - something neither felt they could do. They cope with issues of intimacy and finally Phoenix shares her secret with Griffin, a secret that plunges them headlong into a fully blossomed romance. How the two cope with the inevitable is well handled, rarely bordering on sappy, and always holding our compassion.
Director Ed Stone paces the film well, inserting moments of extended silence to match the emotional atmosphere, allowing breathing space. Both Peet and Mulroney create believable three-dimensional characters and are well supported by such solid actors as Lois Smith, Sarah Paulson, and Novella Nelson. The story may have sad aspects, but the cast always allows the humor inherent in any life event to come through. And that is one of the several reasons the film works well. Grady Harp
Great actors!! I loved the plot! It made you think about life and death!! Great movie!!
I have to admit that I am somewhat biased about this film. I have an incurable form of leukemia and I found this film so touching. Everyone deals with this stuff differently and I really resounded with how the 2 leads dealt with this part of their life. The film was appropriately funny in spots and at the same time, dealt honestly with the other side of that coin. Well done. Great casting, chemistry and writing.
Everyone knows someone like this, they face something awful and turn out better people because of tragedy and not triumph. I am not talking about people you are out of control, but rather about people who are just what they present. I love the male lead in this role because he is someone who is putting himself aside to be there for this amazing woman. Right away, you might think that two people meeting under these circumstances is contrived. But the human probability of the story is very high, and I wonder it this kind of plot doesn't help people to think about the reality of their lives, how we might treat each other and feel about the time that we have had to live. I challenge you to watch this to decide.
This movie needs more advertising.
This movie needs more advertising.
10jruben54
First, I want a DVD or the chance to tape this movie. Two actors that are not "super" stars but both very capable and respected. It's a story about life, not death. Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney will make you laugh and break your heart. Have the big box of tissue ready, but you'll be a better person for having watched it. The movie hooked me in the first five minutes. I couldn't stop watching, the chemistry just felt so real between the two of them. When I was in high school I read a short story written by a student, "How High the Moon". I know no one knows it but this story is like that. You think no one else in this world understands what you are thinking right at this moment or what you are going through and you couldn't be more wrong. I only saw it this afternoon and here I am writing my thoughts on it. If you haven't seen it make every effort to. If you're the type that doesn't cry at a movie guess what, there is a first time for everything.
Did you know
- TriviaA remake of the 1976 Made-For-Television movie, Le sourire aux larmes (1976) (released 30 years earlier).
- GoofsWhen the doctor is showing an X-ray at the beginning of the scene, she puts the exam backwards, meaning the right side is on the left, thus changing the position of the heart--a mistake any med student would notice. She also says that there are several lesions in the chest, whereas the X-ray appears to be normal from the distance the viewer can see. Additionally, an X-ray is not the best exam to identify this kind of cancer; it would usually be a CT scan--an exam available in the time the story is being told.
- ConnectionsReferences Scarface (1932)
- SoundtracksHey Man (Now You're Really Living)
Written by Mark Oliver Everett (as Mark O. Everitt)
Performed by Eels (as Eels)
Played during the opening credits
- How long is Griffin & Phoenix?Powered by Alexa
- Symbolism of the names?
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,355,967
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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