So I decided to do a February romcom/romance movie thing. I turned on Netflix and went to their romance movies and found Daniel Levy’s new movie, Good Grief. Since I generally enjoy his work, I popped it on. I don’t think this is how I wanted to start the month of romance.
Marc (Daniel Levy) is living the good life with his husband, Oliver (Luke Evans). A year after Oliver died in a car accident, Marc opens a card from him confessing that he found someone else in Paris, where Marc discovered that Oliver had secretly been renting an apartment. Determined to find out more, Marc travels to Paris with his best friends, Thomas (Himesh Patel) and Sophie (Ruth Negga). The three of them come to terms with the difficulties each of them have faced in their personal lives.
This was a really sad movie. I mean, I should have known it from the title but I didn’t expect it to be this sad. It is entirely about Marc’s transition through the stages of grief and accepting that, while he loved Oliver and Oliver loved him, his husband was not the person Marc thought he was. At the same time, we have secondary plots with Sophie having commitment (and maybe alcoholism) issues and Thomas being afraid of not being enough for his boyfriends (and maybe still being in love with Marc since they previously dated).
Don’t get me wrong. Good Grief isn’t a bad movie. It is very well done. But if you aren’t in the right mindset to watch three very broken people learn how to better themselves, it might not be for you. I’m glad I watched it, I’m just not sure it should have been the first movie of February.
Rating: B
