We’ve all seen John Cusack play the sad sap before, but in the Iraq War-influenced “Grace Is Gone,” it’s a different breed of his trademark character. In the film, Cusack plays Stanley Philips, the down-to-earth manager of a retail store who’s just learned of his soldier wife’s death overseas. Unable to tell his two daughters the truth, he packs up the car and takes them on a road trip, hoping that by the time they return home, he’ll have healed enough to break the news. Written and directed by James C. Strouse, “Grace Is Gone” is an incredibly light drama that, despite its subject matter, doesn’t really have a political agenda. Instead, it just uses the situation as a means of telling a simplistic, yet effective story about one man’s emotional journey.
Though the film garnered two Golden Globe nominations for Clint Eastwood’s work on the soundtrack, Cusack’s phenomenal performance was completely overlooked. Much of this has to do with the fact that very few people were given the opportunity to see it, and while I’m not exactly sure why “Grace Is Gone” never received a wider theatrical release, it’s safe to assume that it had something to do with the Weinsteins’ poor marketing skills. This isn’t the first time the brotherly duo have screwed the pooch on a great film, and while I commend them for having the balls to invest millions of dollars into risky projects (*cough* “Grindhouse” *cough*), it means absolutely nothing if you can’t market it correctly.
