In a perfect world, by its sheer innocuousness a film like The Grand Seduction would deflect harsh judgement. Problem is, the goings-on in this film reach so far into the corny corner, they did finally transform this viewer’s tolerance from initial submission straight to irritability. Heaven forbid how much dumber still this would have been had it not had an actor as fine as Brendan Gleeson in the lead.
Gleeson plays the ringleader in a scheme to bring a factory of some sort to Tickle Head, a harbor in Newfoundland with barely more than a hundred residents. The former fishing community now lies in deep unemployment with nearly everyone on the dole. Gleeson still collects a check made out to a dead relative. This lack of integrity doesn’t stop him from taking on the mayoral duties when the town’s former mayor leaves to work airport security. Gleeson’s motivation for public service transcends possible altruistic motives after his wife leaves to go work in a factory in the city. In a contrived plot facilitator, Tickle Head’s factory can only happen if the town contains a medical doctor, which it doesn’t. So when the former mayor gets ready to bust a physician (Taylor Kitsch) trying to enter Canadian customs with a load of cocaine, the wheels are somehow set in motion for the doctor to serve a six-month community service stint in Tickle Head in order to duck more serious charges.
Thus begins the seduction. In order to get the doc to move in permanently, Gleeson rounds up a gaggle of devices meant to wow the doc. They range from dubious (the hockey-loving townspeople pretend to actually love and play cricket (of which the doc is a big fan, despite none of them having a a clue about it) to lamebrained (they leave scattered bills around the ground to stimulate any fortuitous karmic feelings on his part). They also tap his phone conversations to discover things like his penchant for lamb dhansak, which–presto!–the lone restaurant in town suddenly finds itself serving. The town’s seemingly lone eligible woman (Liane Balaban) wants nothing to do with pretending to be interested in the doc, but Gleeson persists.
Directed by Don McKellar (check out his 1998 film Last Night) and written by Ken Scott, who previously wrote a French Canadian version entitled La Grande Seduction, The Grand Seduction shows little restraint when it comes to mawkish dynamics. Its farcical template finally steps aside and the film begs to be taken seriously once the yucks give way to sentimentality. Gleeson will intermittently tickle your fancy, but there is little else in Tickle Head besides warmed-over frays into a too often fishy spectacle.
2.5 Shopworn Fish Tales (out of 5 stars)