Nearing Grace

Enjoyable coming-of-age tale, set in 1979, is reminiscent of Hughes' pre-HOME ALONE efforts. A high school senior (Greg Smith) is in shock after his mom's death and begins disengaging from life. His dad (David Morse, sporting a beard and long, scraggly hair) is a hopeless doper and his brother is a chip off the old block. The only thing that keeps him from falling off the face of the earth are the women in his life: childhood pal Merna (Ashley Johnson) and the alluring and slightly crazy Grace Chance (Jordana Brewster). Based on a novel, NEARING GRACE works about half the time. It is far too predictable for anyone who has ever seen a John Hughes flick. Worth a watch, however, for Smith, who is a terrific young actor. Brewster has several semi-nude scenes, but her bony body doesn't match her beautiful face.

I really enjoyed this film! Its a great indie drama and I would definitely watch this film again. The story is a great coming of age story set in the 70's. I really loved the characters, especially Gregory Smith's character, Henry. I have been waiting for a breakthrough performance from him and this was it! His character deals with everything from family issues, regarding his brother and his father (David Morse); to girl problems, involving his crush (Jordana Brewster) and his best friend. This was definitely a job well done by Ashley Johnson, who plays Henry's best friend. Its got drama and it has its funny moments too.

After I saw this film, it left me scratching my head for a few reasons. At first, I thought it was a movie about college, since all the actors were so old and just walked in and out of classrooms at their leisure, but then I was stunned that they were suppose to be high school age. They are all obviously in their twenties and looked ridiculous as teenagers...it's like casting white people to play blacks in a movie, just as out of place and ridiculous. Next, the movie plays on it's vagueness, we don't understand the motivations behind any of these characters and the dialogue comes off as contrived and phony. Finally, for a film that was supposed to be set in the seventies, it truly fails to capture any feel for that era, it seems more modern than anything in dialogue and appearance. Not a movie that you will hate, but bland and vague enough to leave an empty feeling in your gut after viewing.

I saw this movie this weekend here in New York, and I had really high hopes for it. Maybe that's where things first went wrong. This was a good idea for a story, heck, it's been done before. But this kind of coming of age story can usually be redone and retold in a rewarding way with the right script and cast. I think my main problem isn't that I hated this movie - I didn't feel one way or another about it. I didn't understand why the characters were the way they were. I wanted to know more about Grace - okay, maybe she was supposed to be mysterious but that didn't come across on screen...I was interested in why she was the way she was about guys, her stance on love, etc. As for the protagonist, i don't think it was the fault of the actor, but the he was just annoying and not sympathetic at all.