In Good Grief, Dan Levy creates a morose take on the rom-com, dealing head-on with the different ways grief affects people. The idea is strong in that it's different, and maybe even innovative, to try to place grief at the center of a film like this--but it would have taken a more deft hand and a little more digging to make this work. I think Levy might have served himself better had he chosen someone else to play the lead. Then he could have given that actor more challenging scenes to work with, maybe even had him struggle with sorrow and loss. Instead, the film comes off as the story of a pampered man who seems to lack depth. There needed to be more of an idea than: three friends go to Paris with what seems like an endless expense account to shake off the blues.
Passion is the yin to grief's yang--and this film lacks passion. We sense no real sparks between Levy and Evans early in the film, and even less when he mets the French Theo in Paris. When we see two actors
kissing passionately, we need to feel the heat, feel that they can barely control themselves in the moment. Levy does not seem up to it and that affects the whole film. His sadness is more like that of a person who didn't get the table he wanted in a tony restaurant.
There was a better film hiding in here.
