Name: Falling for Grace (2006)
IMDb: link to Falling for Grace page
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Vanity. Country of origin: USA
Cast: Fay Ann Lee as Grace Tang, Christine Baranski (The Good Wife) as Bree Barrington, Gale Harold as Andrew Barrington Jr, Roger Rees as Andrew Barrington Sr, Lewis Black as Rob York, Margaret Cho as Janie, Laura Benanti as Alexandra, BD Wong (Law and Order SVU) as Stephen, Stephanie March (Law and Order SVU) as Kay Douglas, Sarah Rafferty (Suits) as Sydney, Ato Essandoh as Jamal, Cindy Cheung as Kari Mills, Ken Leung as Ming Tang (Grace's brother).
Directed by: Fay Ann Lee. Written by: Fay Ann Lee and Karen Rousso.
The Three Acts
The initial tableaux:
Grace rises from lowly beginnings in NYC Chinatown to become a mergers and acquisitions mid-level executive at a bank. She keeps in touch with her family, but clearly wants to reach for still higher social status.
At a cocktail party, Grace is mistaken for an heiress from Hong Kong who is also named Grace Tang. Despite several attempts, Grace does not disabuse this notion. This failed identification is the center of the comedy. Grace manages to finesse several meetings where the identification should have been corrected.
Delineation of conflicts:
A counter thread involves her work at negotiating the sale of Kari Mills' company, which uses sweatshop labor to lower prices. Andrew Jr works at the New York State Attorney General's office. During one of their meetings, Grace gets insider knowledge about Andrew's case against Kari Mills. Grace aims to use this knowledge to drive down the sale price of Kari Mills' company. This does not go over well with Andrew Sr, who negotiates for Kari.
Kay Douglas and Andrew Jr are 'fated' in the corporate sense to be married, so Andrew's time with Grace seems futile. Grace's unmasking is delayed, but not forever.
The dialectic about Kari Mills and her company continues. Grace helps Andrew Jr counter Andrew Sr's actions.
Resolution:
Grace's mistaken identity is exposed, and she decides to leave New York. Despite everything, Andrew Jr is still interested in her. Do they work something out?
One line summary: Comedy of film making errors; laughs in short supply.
Statistics:
Cinematography: 6/10 Way too much soft focus.
Sound: 7/10 Fine for the English speakers. The incidental music is cloying.
Acting: 4/10 This is a mixed bag, to say the least. BD Wong, Lewis Black, Christine Baranski, Ato Essandoh, Roger Rees, and Margaret Cho were fine. Christine Baranski was the best; her discussion with Andrew Jr about how he had to marry Kay was one of the most genuine moments in the film. On the other hand, Fay Ann Lee, Gale Harold, Stephanie March, and Ken Leung were much less satisfying, with Gale Harold being the absolute worst.
Screenplay: 4/10 There were too many cliches from the romantic comedy field. I have nothing against cliches; even the oldest can be funny if done right. There were only a few recognizable attempts at humor. I found myself thinking that I should be laughing at this, but I did not laugh once.
Final Rating: 4/10
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