Back in 2003, the French-Canadian film "La grande séduction" debuted and it was a sweet little movie that I heartily enjoyed. A decade later, the film was remade with an English speaking cast...and from what I recall the films are about equal in quality and watchability...a rare case when a remake is NOT a bad thing.
The story is set in a crappy little village in Newfoundland, Canada. I say crappy because the fishermen can no longer make a living* and everyone subsists on relief checks from the government. As a result, it's a depressed town...not just economically but emotionally. However, Murray (Brendan Gleeson) comes up with a plan...to entice a company to put their factory there. There are many problems with this....and one of the main ones is that the company requires the town to have a doctor and doctors have no interest in coming to towns with only a hundred or so residents in the middle of no where. So, the plan is to invite a young doctor there and seduce him into loving the town. This means, essentially, faking it....and pretending the residents LOVE cricket (Canadians don't like the sport nor do they understand it), have Indian food at the one restaurant in town, that they LOVE free-form jazz, and that the local postmistress thinks the doctor is a hottie...which, she doesn't! But it even goes further, as they leave money scattered about for him to find and they bug his telephone...and change the town as needed to fit the doctor's personality and likes! How far can they go and can they pull it off? And, more importantly, if they do...what next?!
This is a very gentle comedy...not a laugh out loud one but a lovely film for a date night or if you are looking for something nice and enjoyable without huge mega-stars and explosions. And, if you like "Waking Ned Devine", you'll no doubt enjoy "The Grand Seduction" as well.
