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List Price: $24.95 | | Label: Weinstein Company
Salesrank: 11184
Released: May 27, 2008 |
| Our Price: $8.49 |
| Used Price: $2.49 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In one of his most acclaimed performances, John Cusack makes an astonishing transformation as Stanley Philips, a sad, disconnected man unable to tell his young daughters their mother, a soldier, has died in Iraq. Instead, he takes the girls on a road trip, where their innocent charm helps him rediscover a healing joy he thought he'd lost forever.
Description of Grace Is Gone:
Unlike previous Iraq War films, the poignant directorial debut from writer James C. Strouse (Lonesome Jim) uses the conflict as starting point rather than subject. Early in the proceedings, Stanley (John Cusack) finds out his wife has been killed in the line of duty. The bespectacled disciplinarian decides not to tell his daughters right away. In his younger days, Stanley tried to serve his country, but poor eyesight dashed that dream, and now he's a superstore manager. The sort of middle-American conservative rarely seen at the art house, Stanley believes in his president. That doesn't alleviate his pain. Putting on a brave face, he asks his oblivious girls for their greatest wish. Eight-year-old Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk) exclaims, "Enchanted Gardens!" With that, they hop in their SUV and drive from Minnesota to the Florida theme park. Twelve-year-old Heidi (Shélan O'Keefe) knows something is wrong--her dad isn't the spontaneous type--but she doesn't know what it is. En route, they visit Stanley's brother, John (Alessandro Nivola), who offers some insight into their bottled-up father. By the end of the trip, Stanley figures out how to break the news, in the process becoming a real parent. After winning the Audience Award at Sundance, Clint Eastwood, Cusack's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil director, gave the soundtrack a jazz-oriented overhaul. In tone, it's almost too refined for the blue-collar world Strouse depicts, but never distracting. More importantly, Grace Is Gone features Cusack’s finest performance to date. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Grace Is Gone Reviews:
Textbook Case on How NOT to Handle the Death of a Child's Parent 
2008-11-16 - I don't know if I watched a different movie from the other reviewers of this movie, but neither my wife or I saw anything about it in the same way the other reviewers seem to have seen it. What we saw as a man-boy who hadn't grown up enough to be a father to two daughters with a strong wife, much less going through the grieving of a loss of their mother. One of the main characteristics of an immature person is that they try to avoid facing their problems rather than dealing with them. Stanley, the father, clearly wasn't mature enough to cope with his loss himself, much less guide two young daughters through theirs. By the time Stanley got up the courage -- no, by the time he couldn't avoid facing the truth any longer because Heidi was clearly figuring things out and even starting to act out -- we could not have much empathy with Stanley at all. We could feel for the girls, however, to have to face several days of constant lying by their father on top of learning to deal with the death of their mother.
If you think a movie about the death of a parent should be about how the other parent does everything he can think of to avoid telling the truth to his kids, then this movie might be for you. On the other hand, if you think such a movie might give a child you know who has lost a parent unexpectedly some hope for their own future, forget this movie. Finally, if you think of watching a movie about the death of a child's parent merely as entertainment, then you are just as immature and sick as Stanley.
Cusak, again 
2008-10-13 - Underrated as usual. So how would you tell the kids. Is our hero weak? I don't think so. The phone calls to the answering machine are heartbreaking and real. The waste of war.
Grace Is Gone
2008-08-08 - Item arrived in great condition. I wasn't as impressed with the movie as I thought I would be; too much hype and it didn't deliver.
This movie touched me as a father
2008-08-06 - The Iraq War isn't a central theme to this film. I expected a storyline along the same lines of "In the Valley of Elah." This isn't the case. "Grace" might have past from a car crash or some other tragedy. This movie is about a husband's grief and loss.
Fans of John Cusack will appreciate his work here. The relationship between Cusack's character and his two daughters is honest, painful, yet riveting.
Be ready to dry your eyes.
Quietly, Beautifully Effective
2008-07-29 - This story is done well as it is a very "normal" family trying to deal with the issues of a loved one away in Iraq and family members who support or do not support the war effort. The father (Cusak) wants to cling to the normalcy and the innocence of a life slipping away from him. The kids are not know-it-all brats telling the dad what to do, but are either confused, happy, sad, smart at different times, which is a realistic protrayal of many kids. We get to learn who these kids are and really, who the father (John Cusak) is before the kids are dealt the devastating blow that...Grace is gone.
