The Grand Seduction

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.

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.

"We have one month to convince our good doctor to sign long term." The town of Tickle Cove is starting to collapse economically. The residents are living on welfare checks and watching everyone they love move into the big city. When they have a chance to secure a contract for a factory for the town they need to do whatever they can. The first thing they need is a doctor. Dr. Lewis (Kitsch) comes to the harbor for a month and local local mayor Murray French (Gleeson) enlists the help of the town to do anything that will make him stay. I have liked pretty much anything that Brendan Gleeson has done. This one is no exception. One of the biggest pet peeves I have about movies is when they're too predictable. Almost from the beginning you are able to tell what will happen and how the movie will end. This is one of the few exceptions where that doesn't hurt the enjoyment of the movie. The writing and comedy is what keeps you watching and laughing the whole way through. It's very entertaining watching the lengths the towns people go to to impress the doctor. The stuff with cricket is my favorite. This is a movie that may not be for everyone but I liked it and I recommend it. Overall, a movie that is very predictable but for once that doesn't hurt the movie. I recommend this but again it's not really for everyone. I give it a B+.

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 ...

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.