Movie Review - Good Grief

Director: Dan levy
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Dan Levy, Ruth Negga, Himish Patel, Luke Evans, Celia Imrie, David Bradley, Kaitlyn Dever, Arnaud Valois
 
Description: When his husband (Luke Evans) unexpectedly dies, Marc’s (Dan Levy) world shatters, sending him and his two best friends (Himesh Patel, Ruth Negga) on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.

Review: A cozy Christmas party with friends turns into a tragedy when Marc’s husband Oliver is killed in a car accident. Slowly trying to come to terms with the loss of Oliver, he is supported in this by his two best friends, Sophie and Thomas. But after a year, Marc discovers that Oliver had met someone else and was secretly renting an apartment in paris. Looking for answers, he takes Sophie and Thomas to Paris.

Marc’s grieving process is the focus, but you don’t spen an hour and a half watching a sad character. He is also angry with Oliver, and because the widower himself has told some lies, the friendship with Sophie and Thomas comes under pressure. Because friendship is such an important part of “Good Grief”, it never becomes a depressing film and story remains very hopeful.

Dan Levy, Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel have a fine chemistry and as a result it seems as if they have known each other for years. The mutual banter between the friends also keeps the film lighthearted and in the sharp dialogue you can see that Levy, who also wrote and directed the film, is a comedian. But he understands that “Good Grief” is a serious drama and never lets the humor dominate. There is a good balance.

I expected this movie to have more enthusiastic reviews, I really loved this movie. I loved Dan Levy. And I hope he will star in more movies that he wrote and directed himself.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 32: Loving

Director: Jeff Nichols
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, Will Dalton, Dean Mumford, Terri Abney, Alano Miller, Chris Greene, Benjamin Booker, Justin Robinson, Dennis Williams, Keith Tyree, Sharon Blackwood, Rebecca Turner, Christopher Mann, Mike Shiflett, Winter-Lee Holland, Karen Vicks, Lance Lemon, Marquis Adonis Hazelwood, Marton Csokas

Description: The story of Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga), an interracial couple, whose challenge of their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia led to a legal battle that would end at the US Supreme Court.

Review: It should be very simple: a man and a woman meet each other, fall in love en eventually get married. But if one of them is white and the other is black in the south of America in the fifties/ sixties, it’s against the law.
This happens to Richard Loving and his pregnant wife Milfred in the state of Virginia. The marry in 1958 and soon after that, they are taken by the police from their own house while they are sleeping. A smart lawyer manages to get them on parole, but they can’t live together in Virginia for at least 25 years. Years later, the couple takes this so supreme court, in the hope this ridiculous law will change.
The story is touching and it this insane true story makes you mad. But somehow the movie didn’t grab me as much as I thought it would. I really wanted to love this movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie. Especially Ruth Negga’s performance really impressed me. She says so much with just her eyes.
“Loving” is a movie with a strong message, but doesn’t have the emotional load I hoped for.

Rating: 3,5/ 5