You will have a hard time getting me to believe that SAVING GRACE was not produced by a Marijuana Lobby. The movie makes smoking and growing pot so appealing that even little old ladies are doing it in a small town in England. Somehow, I expected the concession stands to be selling pot in addition to popcorn. Maybe even with free refills.

The premise is so logical. A woman's cheating husband dies, leaving her  deeply in debt. She needs to raise money quickly to save her home. And the gorgeous setting  seems to be the perfect environment for pot given her green thumb.

A heart-warming comedy, SAVING GRACE stars award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn as a newly widowed woman who is faced with the prospect of financial ruin. Under the tutelage of her fun loving handyman (Ferguson), Grace, an accomplished gardener, turns her green thumb to enterprise. In desperation, she exchanges her prize-winning orchids for marijuana plants and risks the safety of her idyllic Cornwall lifestyle for London's seedy underworld. Grace's adventure quickly turns to mayhem and she must rely on an eccentric group of locals (as well as a few new friends) to stay one step ahead of the law.

The movie is poignant and hilarious at the same time. A generation older friend who was at the movie with me observed that you could tell who in the audience had ever smoked pot by their laugh level. She theorized that the people who anticipated the jokes were the most experienced  smokers.

But while marijuana is the product, this movie isn't really about drugs. It is about relationships, coping, creativity, dedication and commitment. And there is even a little romance thrown in for good measure.

One of the most surprisingly funny parts of the movie was the music. Music with strong associations--sometimes classical, other times new age or pop, was played in incongruous ways to heighten the comic effect.

SAVING GRACE premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Prize in the World Cinema section.

I guarantee you will leave this movie high from laughing.

ABOUT THE FILM

Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson

Directed by: Nigel Cole

Distributed by: Fine Line Features

Written by: Craig Ferguson, Mark Crowdy

Running time: 93 minutes

Rating: -R-

Website address: www.saving-grace-movie.com

About the author, Madelyn Miller: Madelyn Miller is a member of the Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association. She adores art house and foreign films and seems drawn to anything with a travel theme. She never met a film festival she did not like. Although she travels as executive editor of www.travellady.com about half the time, when home in Dallas you will often find her in movie theatres. Her film video collection is gradually replacing her cookbook library. Her favorite popcorn is heavily buttered; straight from a popcorn machine in a movie theatre. Chocolate inspires her to write better reviews. Website: http://www.travellady.com

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