Reviews now on YouTube! | Watch here

Larsen On Film

  • Review Library
  • Subscribe
  • Why I’m Wrong
  • About
  • Books

Grace is Gone

John Cusack is determined to excise every ounce of his screen charisma in this independent drama about a husband and father of two young girls whose wife dies fighting in Iraq. Cusack gives a mewling performance as Stanley Phillips, a slouching retail manager with oversized glasses and averting eyes. Stanley is so downtrodden and morose that his body seems to hold no bones. He literally droops. So does the movie. Grace is Gone wants to be a personal portrait of grief and an oblique anti-war statement, but both aims wilt in the light of Cusack’s anti-star turn. He makes such a scene not showing off that he’s distracting.

Recent Reviews

Superman (2025)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

“What’s a nice guy like Superman doing in a mean place like this?”

Only Yesterday (1991)

Drama Rated PG

“… gently, but profoundly, explores questions of memory, identity, and purpose.”

Throne of Blood (1957)

Drama Rated NR

“… a tale of fog and blood.”


Search Review Library

Sponsored by the following | become a sponsor



SUBSCRIBE


Sign up to receive emails

Sign up to get new reviews and updates delivered to your inbox!

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!




FOLLOW ONLINE



All rights reserved. All Content ©2024 J. Larsen
maintained by Big Ocean Studios

TOP