Green-fingered widow Grace Trevethen (Brenda Blethyn) is faced with a cash-flow problem and wonders how she will be able to pay for the upkeep on her Cornish manor. The solution comes from the manor caretaker (Craig Ferguson): why not start growing and selling marijuana? Thats exactly what Grace does, with hilarious and unforseen consequences.
A sweet, silly and sincere comedy, Saving Grace resembles a Cheech and Chong pothead comedy, only instead of two scruffy lowlifes the film is about an aimless Scottish gardener and a middle-aged widow with a green thumb. Grace (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies and Little Voice) has just discovered that her recently deceased husband has left her with an enormous debt when her gardener Matthew (Craig Ferguson, The Big Tease) asks her to help him tend to his small, personal-use marijuana crop. Grace soon realises that they can turn her greenhouse into a hydroponics laboratory and turn out a profitable crop--if only they can keep the local constables at bay and then find a dealer to sell the stuff. Saving Grace has well-developed characters, intelligent dialogue, a charming and capable cast and clean, clear direction. But at heart its still a marijuana comedy, with most of its funniest moments coming from the silly, stoned behaviour of elderly ladies and others. Nothing wrong with that, and Blethyn and Ferguson give the film a strong anchor. The ending goes a little over the top, but most of the film is well-grounded in genuine human behaviour. A sub-plot about Matthews girlfriends pregnancy is treated with respect and integrity. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com