MovieChat Forums > The Grand Seduction (2014) Discussion > Really Enjoyed This Movie (2 small gripe...

Really Enjoyed This Movie (2 small gripes)

posted 9 years ago by doggie_rodriguez
8 replies | jump to latest

I really enjoyed this film. The characters, the plot, the locations, were all very easy to like.

My two small gripes...

1. I felt pretending there was a 2nd doctor bit was unnecessary. The doctor already liked the place by that point, so I'm not sure why they felt this was necessary.

2. I felt the character of Kathleen (and the Kathleen/Dr. Lewis relationship) wasn't developed enough. They had 3 awkward meaningless encounters the whole movie and end up together. Maybe some scenes got cut out or shortened, but their "relationship" seemed forced out of convenience.

I ended up giving it a 7. Would have been an 8 or 9 without those two gripes. Great movie.

[–] rockethulsey 9 years ago

They also could have just faked a doctor living there, from the beginning.

[–] doggie_rodriguez 9 years ago

That wouldn't have solved the problem. Just delayed it.

[–] emncaity 9 years ago

1. Maybe, but don't forget they were trying to put some time pressure on him, and they thought introducing a competitive element might do it.

2. [SPOILERS:] I think the whole thing of the Kathleen-Paul relationship is interesting. People expect them to get together because it's almost a given that the two pretty people in any film are obligated to do it. But that's a problem of film convention and our own expectations. I thought the way it was done here was just right. It makes sense that he would've been drawn to her, as the only young single woman around, and attractive as well. It also makes sense that she wouldn't have been open to even starting down that road, since the fact that she had grudgingly agreed not to bust the town on its fiction didn't mean she would've been interested in pursuing a relationship that started in the middle of that fiction. What were the prospects? Maybe he leaves without signing up. Maybe he signs up, but then the odds are that sooner or later he's going to find out he's been duped, and he's going to leave (and give her the boot, since she was at least a tacit participant). Or maybe he signs up and by some miracle the fiction holds, and he never finds out. Not one of those possibilities was viable. That leaves us with only the "who cares if it works out, we're gonna sleep together anyway" thing that so many films do, but isn't it better that this story doesn't do that? In the end, the only way they could get together, given what we've been shown of their basic good-guy characters, was for the truth to become known.

[–] doggie_rodriguez 9 years ago

1. He was already "in". Their plan actually made him want to leave. So not only was it unnecessary, it actually made things take longer.

2. They could have left it open to interpretation, but to make it seem like there was "something" there when there wasn't (yet) seemed forced and a bit ridiculous. Like I said above, maybe some of their "bonding" scenes got cut out. But if that's not the case, then their happy ending was a bit forced.

People shouldn't get together just b/c they are attractive. A relationship needs to be developed over time. It just didn't happen here.

[–] Matt_Layden 9 years ago

Maybe I missed something because the version I saw, they did not end up together at all. Flirting yes, get together...no. It was also very one sided.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] schwatime 8 years ago

I think you did miss something, Matt. When I watched with the commentary track on, one of the guys (Gleeson, I think) says that her reaction to him near the end was perfect, not overdone. So I watched it rather closely. I don't know what he was talking about. Her reaction was extremely overdone. I think the reason I missed it the first time is that she had no dialog at that point, and I was distracted by a fly in my room or something. She was ready to marry him, have his kids, and his pets as well.

If you have the chance, watch it again. I think your interpretation will probably be the same as mine.

[–] schwatime 8 years ago

I ended up giving it a 7. Would have been an 8 or 9 without those two gripes. Great movie.

I liked the movie. But there were some cringeworthy bits, e.g. when the wiretapping woman got all hot and bothered by listening to the doc talk about his machine. Complete with cliche post-vicarious-coital cigarette.