The Grand Seduction

Based on 2003’s Seducing Dr. Lewis, The Grand Seduction follows the various inhabitants of a small town (including Brandan Gleeson’s Murray and Liane Balaban’s Kathleen) as they conspire to trick a flashy doctor (Taylor Kitsch’s Dr. Lewis) into opening a local practice – with the ploy kicked into motion after a large conglomerate makes it clear they won’t open a factory without the presence of an on-site physician. It’s clear that The Grand Seduction fares best in its affable first half, as filmmaker Don McKellar has infused the proceedings with a lighthearted and thoroughly breezy feel that proves impossible to resist – with the likeable atmosphere heightened by the picturesque visuals and almost uniformly appealing performances. (Gleeson’s typically charismatic turn is matched, surprisingly enough, by Kitsch, as the notoriously wooden actor delivers his most compelling and relaxed performance to date here.) It’s clear, though, that even in its entertaining stretches, The Grand Seduction suffers from a hackneyed, superficial feel that’s reflected mostly keenly in its aggressively predictable narrative – with scripters Michael Dowse and Ken Scott, for the most part, taking the movie in all of the expected directions. The movie’s progressively underwhelming vibe is compounded by an overlong running time that results in a final third rife with superfluous, repetitive elements, which does, naturally, dull the impact of the film’s feel-good final stretch and confirms The Grand Seduction‘s place as a watchable yet erratic comedy. (The original, it’s ultimately clear, is a much, much more accomplished piece of work.)

** out of ****