I Ache For Grace (Return to Me (DVD))

Member Name: christianfilm

Product:	Return to Me (DVD)
Date:	16/08/06 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gentle, Sweet, Sad but Funny

Disadvantages: A little predictable

Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) is a happily married man, who enjoys his job as a building contractor in Chicago. His wife Elizabeth (Joely Richardson) is a successful zoologist and has achieved reasonable greatness in her study of captive Apes. One night after a fund raiser for Elizabeth's zoo, they are involved in a tragic car accident, Bob survives but unfortunately Elizabeth doesn't, but in his moment of sorrow he agrees for her organs to be used for transplants. Meanwhile, seriously ill Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), a waitress at an Irish-Italian restaurant, gets the news she has been waiting to hear for ages, a heart had finally become available for her life saving transplant. After years of being seriously ill, she is finally well enough to help her grandfather run the restaurant and maybe fulfil her dream of going to Italy.

After some time, a friend of Bob's decides that it is about time that he tried to rebuild his life. He invites him out on a double date at the Irish-Italian restaurant where Grace is a waitress. Although his date seems to be a complete waste of time, something attracts him to Grace, and over several dates they fall head over in love with each other. Everything seems to be going brilliantly, until Grace finds out that her new heart belonged to Bob's dead wife. With the truth weighing heavy on her conscience she is torn between whether she should carry on dating Bob and also whether she should tell him the truth.



Okay, so it's your typical romantic/comedy plot and yes it is sentimental and quite slushy, but it is also very funny. Although the story revolves around the characters of Bob and Grace, the supporting characters are just as important and provide most of the comedy highlights. Just take the restaurant, O'reilly's Italian Restaurant, its run by her Irish grandfather and his best friend an Italian cook, their constant bickering about who was the best singer or baseball player is brilliantly funny. On top of this you have her sister and brother law who try to set her up with some very strange characters. Of course you cannot ignore the very poignant story behind this romantic comedy, and it puts a different slant on many of the usual romantic comedies out there.

The main character of Bob Rueland is played by David Duchovny (Evolution, X-files) who is very good as a straight faced romantic leading man, and you never ever think of him as Mulder from the X-files. His best scene is sadly when he returns home after the death of his wife. The emotion he displays is not only magnificent; it is very real and really pulls at your heart strings. Playing opposite him is Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) as Grace Briggs who puts in the good performance that you come to expect from her. Her scene where she finds out that she has the heart of Bob's dead wife is very powerful as all these thoughts start rushing through her head. Grace's grandfather, Marty O'Reilly, is played by Carroll O'Connor whose partnership with Angelo Pardipillo the Italian Chef, played by Robert Loggia is purely magical. They play the part of the 2 old timers magnificently who bicker like an old married couple. Grace's best friend, Megan Dayton, is played by Bonnie Hunt (Jerry Maguire) who also wrote and directed the film and her husband Joe is played by James Belushi (K-9). Both of them provide plenty of humour through out the film especially in scenes around their own family. The entire cast, whether main or supporting put in brilliant performances which are vital to making this film so enjoyment.

As mentioned earlier this film was written (screenplay) and directed by Bonnie Hunt, and she has done an excellent job of creating a very beautiful film. What is even more surprising is that this was her directional debut, and to do such a good job is amazing. She has provided a good balance of drama and comedy, whilst always focusing on telling the story. The film flows at a great pace and is very smooth as one scene easily merges into the next. Part of the enjoy ability of the film is the sound track which has some great old songs such as "Return To Me", "Buona Sera", "At Long Last Love" but it also has some very beautiful orchestral/ choral pieces. In particular the piece playing when Grace is having her transplant operation is stunningly beautiful; if anyone knows the film and knows what it is called I would be very grateful if you would tell me.


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The Cast
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David Duchovny .... Bob Rueland
Minnie Driver .... Grace Briggs
Carroll O'Connor .... Marty O'Reilly
Robert Loggia .... Angelo Pardipillo
Bonnie Hunt .... Megan Dayton
James Belushi .... Joe Dayton
Eddie Jones .... Emmett McFadden
Joely Richardson .... Elizabeth Rueland


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Technical Details
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Certificate: PG
Length: 115 mins


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Conclusion & Rating
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This is a very good romantic comedy which never tries to pretend to be anything else. It is sentimental and slushy but it is also very good fun and really enjoyable to watch, it must be, because I have watched it at least 6 times. The performances are very good and the whole film runs very smoothly with a good mixture of drama and comedy. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a very nice romantic comedy, or a film which the whole family can watch and enjoy.

Return to Me is available on Amazon for only £4.97.


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Quotes
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These are just some of my favourite quotes from the scene, both touching and funny.

Bob Rueland: I miss Elizabeth.I'll always miss her. But I ache for Grace.


Tyler Dayton: And then we went to see the gorillas and Mommy said it was you.
Megan Dayton: I did not.
Joe Dayton: Oh, really? Did you go to see the elephants?
Megan Dayton: Watch it Joe.


Marty: This guy you're talking about, he can't sing at all.
Angelo: He can't sing? Then why has he got such a big band?
Wally Jatczak: To drown him out!

Summary: A gentle love story following the loss of a loved one.