Idyllic coastal towns are usually fighting to keep the petrochemical industry out of their locality but in The Grand Seduction it’s quite the opposite. Tickle Cove, a once proud fishing town has been laid low by economic downturn and is now desperate to become the location of a chemical recycling plant so that the local population might earn a wage without recourse to welfare. There are many problems with their bid but prime among them is the fact that the town doesn’t have a doctor. Enter hard-drinking plastic surgeon Dr. Lewis (Taylor Kitsch), who is bribed into taking a month long placement in the town. In order to hold onto the doctor on a permanent basis, local chancer Murray French (Brendan Gleeson) rallies the townspeople into nefarious activities to make Tickle Cove seem like heaven on earth.
The Grand Seduction is a remake of a French Candian film, re-located to Newfoundland and given an Anglophone makeover by writer Micheal Dowse (director of What If, currently doing the rounds in cinemas). Not being familiar with the original film I have little to compare it to but I was not terribly optimistic having seen the rather saccharine posters around town, which feature Liane Balaban prominently as a windswept love interest, despite the fact that she hardly appears in the film. These low expectations caused me to be pleasantly surprised by the film – a sweet and spritely affair full of wit and warmth.
Ok, so it won’t win any prizes for originality and a great deal of the comedy is mined from the sight of OAP’s behaving badly but I can’t deny that I laughed more at The Grand Seduction than at any other comedy this summer. Gleeson is on fine form, seemingly enjoying a project with a lighter tone after the doom and gloom of Calvary. Gordon Pinsent as his right hand man Simon has a wonderfully hangdog demeanour that sits well against Gleeson’s more bombastic style. Kitsch manages to hold his own as the relative straight man of the piece.
Overall, watching The Grand Seduction felt almost like watching an extended episode of an old fashioned sitcom, maybe not the most sophisticated comedic experience but satisfying jolly nonetheless.