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Saving Grace
Fine Line Features


9.0

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for drug content and language

Starring Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, and Martin Clunes

A recent widow finds herself with a home and large garden, and also a large mortgage and other debts. Her gardener suggests a way to solve the problem and use all the gardens. . .grow marijuana.

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Mark Crowdy (also story) Craig Ferguson
DIRECTED BY:	Nigel Cole
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 19, 2000 Video: December 19, 2000 Theatrical: August 4, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	94 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

In short, Just Say Yes.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A real high in a season filled with unfunny comedies.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Solid formula comedy.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

It's a breezy and entertaining little charmer.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Has a charm that keeps you involved throughout.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

It's a fresh installment in what appears to be a self-perpetuating sitcom of British life.

Variety Joe Leydon

Harvests a bumper crop of laughs.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

It makes you giggle. That's the dark, dirty secret. You giggle. You giggle again.

Baltimore Sun Ron Dicker

It has enough humanity to let the humor tickle, and a subject that will evoke memories for anyone who has ever smoked a joint or just said no.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

A comedy of the old school. Depending on your view of the current state of screen humor, that's either a promise or a warning.

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Though not quite up to "The Full Monty" or "Waking Ned Devine," there's just enough left in that overseas whimsy stockpile to generate good buzz (the word-of-mouth moviegoer kind).

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

After an uproarious first half, Saving Grace arrives at its conclusion somewhat hastily and conveniently.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Has that same air of silly innocence, a rarity in today's movies.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Constipated English whimsy for the easily tickled.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Thoroughly dotty and surprisingly endearing.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Blethyn's solid-gold charm turns Saving Grace into a comic high.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

It's funny and charming most of the time, thanks to Brenda Blethyn.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Whimsy and wit are the saving graces of much British movie comedy, and Saving Grace has a decent measure of both.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Blethyn glides through the proceedings elegantly, a comic swan among ducks.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

That they're English and elderly apparently makes their antics screamingly funny to people who would turn up their noses at similar humor in a film like "Scary Movie."

Time Richard Schickel

Grace is not as tightly wound as the best of its breed, but it is a genial way to pass the time.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Wrings laughs from the antics of affable, eccentric villagers who cheerily break the law.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Never quite rises above its one-joke situation.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Blethyn's lively acting and some visually amusing moments lend spice to this minor but engaging comedy.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Determined to be inoffensively tidy and cute above all else.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A sweet, loopy British comedy filled with good actors and funny moments.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

We're left with a promising idea for a comedy, which arrives at some laughs but never finds its destination.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Coy, cutesy, sentimental, and shamelessly manipulative.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

Better in the end to skip it, and make Mother go it alone.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

Better in the end to skip it, and make Mother go it alone.

Slate David Edelstein

I've shot people for less.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A real audience pleaser.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It tries to get by on charm. It doesn't.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dennis gave it a10:
Hilarious Beautiful location (Port Isaac).

Gilbert M. gave it a 7:
Decent film though.

Misha H. gave it a 9:
An enjoyable comedy... bound to make you laugh.

Geordie S. gave it a 9:
Not "Ned Divine," but a heck of a funny movie. Not high art, but laughed out loud in a movie theatre for the first time in just ages.

Gillian T. gave it a 10:
Best movie ever.

Ryan M. gave it an 8:
A mostly good fairy tale. A fable in the same category as "Chocolat" and "Waking Ned Devine," "Saving Grace" may charm and please but might be unpleasuring to some. But it sure pleasured me.

Saving Grace Fine Line Features

Saving Grace
Fine Line Features