In the Back Row

with Allison McKinley © 2004

Film: Unconditional Love
Avery Pix/New Line (USA)

Allison's review in ten words or fewer: Quirky, brilliant, semi-dark comedy about finding love and courage. Grade: "B-"

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical, Thriller
Awards: Best sound in direct to video.
Rating (USA): PG-13
Runtime: 122 Minutes
Language(s): English
Special DVD Features: Deleted Scenes

* * *

Grace è una casalinga che vive in una bella casa in un claustrofobico grattacielo di Chicago.

Don't be shocked. My entire review will not be in Italian, but I have included an explanation in the following paragraph.

This is a fantastic film, though there is not much to commend it in the area of awards or special features on the DVD. At some point, New Line Cinema got cold feet and, after a limited theatrical release, sent this film directly to video. It did not pass go or collect $200, nor did it receive any money for publicity or promotion. Because this film is so unknown, in order to read five reviews, as is my policy before writing my own critique, I had to read three in foreign languages: French, Portuguese and Italian.

All I can say is New Line blew it.

My opening line is from a review in Tempi Moderni. Word for word it says, "Grace is a housewife who lives in a beautiful house in a claustrophobic skyscraper in Chicago."

Grace (Kathy Bates) does indeed live in a grattacielo in Chicago, though I would not call it claustrophobic. It is a large and airy apartment that overlooks other tower apartment buildings. The wind for which Chicago is famous whistles through, but Grace masks the mournful din with a sound generator: surf, frogs and thunderstorms. Occasionally, Grace waves through the fog to a little boy in a far off window, or is 'visited' by the window washer who dangles precariously outside her flat. Most of the time, she listens to CDs by her favourite entertainer, Victor Fox. Twice, fireworks burst forth in the Chicago night sky for no apparent reason, and we see them refracted in the facing towers of glass and steel; harbinger of things to come for Grace, or a metaphor that implies we only truly see life through reflection?

Victor Fox (played by Jonathan Pryce) is a middle-aged crooner who has made his fortune singing to middle-aged women. He is soon to visit Chicago, and Grace phones into the local TV station to win a ticket to be one of five women to whom Victor will personally sing. While she is about to give the television station her information so that they can send the ticket, Grace's husband, Max (Dan Aykroyd), informs her, "Grace, we need to talk about our marriage."

"Is there a problem?" she asks.

"Yes," Max replies. "You're the problem."

Poor Grace. In her distracted state, she hangs up the phone, losing her chance to see Victor Fox in person. And Max walks out of her life.

Grace manages to pull herself together, draws on her inner strength, calls the TV station back and finagles a ticket, only to find out that Victor Fox will not appear. The taping of his show has been postponed. Why?

Unfortunately, while in the Windy City to tape the talk show, a show on which he planned to come out of the closet, Victor went hustling for young boys in Chicago's undercity and took an arrow in the heart from the Crossbow Killer. Nothing personal; the Crossbow Killer just can't stand.... Oh, but that would be giving the plot away.

Grace has lunch with her daughter-in-law Maudie, who has been abandoned by her husband as well (Grace's son). They decide to visit the site where Victor was killed, and drive into the city's underbelly. Here they visit the last place Victor had a drink, the Billy Goat Tavern. They meet the bartender who served Victor right before he was murdered; Grace sits on the barstool where Victor sat, buys the mug he drank from. They find out that he drank a Guinness, because American beers contain preservatives, and just before he died, Victor told the bartender, "A life lived in fear is not much fun."

Grace decides to go to England for Victor's funeral.

On a train on the way to the village of Lark, Victor's hometown, Grace picks up a local paper and reads the obits. One stands out, as it is composed of words from one of Victor's early songs:

Never regret
Never forget
The gift from above
Unconditional Love.
-DS

Film-goers familiar with the antics of Monty Python and films in the tradition of the English "Carry On..." series will appreciate what P.J. Hogan, obviously a Python fan, accomplishes in the next few scenes, with people popping up from behind hedges, saying 'yes' when they mean 'no' when the subject of Victor's sexuality come up, and the likes. When Grace cannot get into Victor's country cottage, as she is blocked by his 'valet who has no car' (he calls her 'an American frump who has no life'), she is greeted by Victor's three sisters, who assume she is in the entertainment industry ("Well, you are an American, aren't you?). Over tea, they explain that their plan is to get Dirk Simpson, the valet (pronounced in proper English to rhyme with 'mallet'), out of the house, 'detain' him somewhere so that they can take over the estate for themselves, as they figure it is now worth about a million pounds.

Grace wants no part of this duplicity. Instead, she breaks into the grounds of Victor's estate and begins mowing the lawn and cutting wood to stoke the fires of the hot water heater (her father had one just like it back home). Dirk offers to pay her off if she'll just go away. She does not. Instead, she breaks into the house and cooks him lavish meals.

Finally defeated, Dirk invites Grace in to share one of the feasts she's cooked, then gives her a tour of the house. Here, Grace finds out that the heartthrob of millions of middle-aged women was indeed gay; more than that, that he liked to lounge about the house in his mum's pink satin robe and her faux-diamond tiara. Dirk explains that he lived with Victor for ten years, that Victor was funny, kind, and unfaithful. And did he mention unfaithful?

After the tour, Dirk says he needs a drink, but he's consumed all the whiskey, wine and cough remedy in the house. Grace suggests they go to the local pub for a Guinness and a sing-along. Dirk says, "It's not like you see on the telly. They don't like singing in pubs, and they don't like gays."

In what is one of the more predictable scenes of the film, we see Grace leading Dirk through the hole in the hedge that she previously cut to invade the estate. On the other side, she displays her hidden bicycle. Down the hill to the pub they go, with Dirk on the handlebars. The brakes fail (of course), so they end up in a bundle, laughing, after overtaking a lorry and then crashing into the rubbish outside the pub (where, inside, the local are engaged in a sing-along).

This one predictable bit aside, what drives this film is character development. Grace has already been brave enough to overcome her husband's rejection, taken a plane and a train to attend Victor's funeral, but now Dirk challenges her even further. Over a pint, he tells her:

"I knew what it meant when you broke into my home and forced meals upon me. You're intending to matter, Grace. You've returned to life, only this isn't enough. One trip to England never brought anyone back to life.

"You've refused to let everyone's rejection of you define what you'd probably become if you had a bit more courage.

"Either this little adventure of yours means something, or it's just another story you'll tell in the old folks' home."

Dirk has an outrageous proposal. He tells Grace that he will accompany her back to America, that together they can track down the Crossbow Killer and bring him to justice. It does not take much to convince the newly enlivened Grace that they can do it. But can they?

Even if the script were less than outstanding, this cast alone is worth the price of the admission (or in this case, the DVD rental). Led by a brilliant and touching performance from the unsinkable Kathy Bates, the ensemble includes Rupert Everett, Dan Aykroyd, Peter Sarsgaard, Jonathan Pryce, Meredith Eaton (CBS's Family Law, NYPD Blue, Dharma and Greg), Lynn Redgrave, Julie Andrews, Barry Manilow, and Sally Jessy Raphael.

Toss in direction and writing by Australian P.J. Hogan (Peter Pan, My Best Friend's Wedding, Muriel's Wedding) and you have a terrific little film.

Don't miss it!