Dan Levy is best known for Schitt’s Creek – one of the best modern comedies in my opinion – and because of that, I’ll watch anything he creates. This led me to his directorial debut Good Grief, released quietly on Netflix over the weekend. The premise is similar to Tom Ford’s A Single Man, where a man deals with the aftermath of his partner’s death.
Good Grief begins much like a Nancy Meyers’ rom-com. It’s Christmas, family and friends are gathered in the house Marc (Levy) shares with his husband Oliver (Luke Evans). Their lives are very intertwined, as not only are Marc and Oliver married, Marc also does the illustrations for Oliver’s series of YA novels. Clearly Oliver’s well-liked, considering the amount of people gathered in his house, and the fact that he maintains an amiable relationship even with his ex-boyfriend. He’s close to Marc’s friends as well, teasing Sophie (Ruth Negga) about her tone-deaf singing, and also on good terms with Marc’s ex-boyfriend-turned-friend Thomas (Himesh Patel).
Then Oliver leaves on an urgent business trip, only to get into a car accident on their block. Besides the funeral, we skip over most of the first year after Oliver’s death, with the main gist being how Sophie and Thomas was there for Marc in his time of grief.
The problem with the movie is its tone. At times, Levy seems to be going for the comedic tone that Schitt’s Creek is known for, like an actress delivering a narcissistic speech at Oliver’s funeral, or Marc having a breakdown at a Loewe store. Then there’s the somber part, as Marc stews in his grief, and the rom-com bits when Marc connects with Theo (Arnaud Valois), a French guy he meets at an art show. The most relatable aspect about the film is Marc’s anger when he discovers a pied-Ã -terre in Paris that Oliver bought to share with another man.
These are complicated feelings to navigate – Marc misses Oliver so much it feels like a never-ending ache, yet this comes with the realisation that the man he loved spent his last moments thinking about being with another man. But we never get to see any of this. Marc feels too sanguine at times, maybe it’s a kind of numbness, but as viewers we need to have greater access to Marc’s interior.
Sophie and Thomas are also barely sketched out, especially Thomas. It’s a testament to Negga’s acting that she’s able to make Sophie more than the mess she’s perpetually supposed to be, and Patel manages to communicate Thomas’ loneliness despite the lack of space he’s given in the film. The film’s realest moment is when the trio are on a Ferris wheel, all dying to get off, before realising that they’ve got another round to go. That made me crack a smile. Other times we’re treated to inauthentic rom-com banter between Theo and Marc, who have zero chemistry together.
It’s a shame though. The movie’s atmosphere has a nice auld lang syne vibe to it, which is apt given it’s New Year setting. It would have been nice to start the new year with a movie that made me feel something, that communicated something meaningful about grief and living. Instead, Good Grief doesn’t say much at all.
READ NEXT: 10 Underrated Movies of 2023 You Should Watch
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site.
