A Grand Romantic Gesture is a particular type of romantic comedy. Many films of the genre are about people trying to find their way in life. They tend to be in their twenties or thirties and either have to make a choice or have an epiphany that sets up the rest of their lives. Then there are rom-coms like Something’s Gotta Give that tell a more mature love story. The same themes are present, but reflection is as important as movie forward. A Grand Romantic Gesture is about a woman named Ava (Gina McKee) forced into early retirement. She joins a drama class and is cast as Juliet. True to the William Shakespeare play, she falls for Romeo.
A Grand Romantic Gesture has all the elements for a cute and enjoyable romantic-comedy. It is filled with the expected budding romance and funny moments. The characters are genre tropes, but it is never off-putting since the acting is good. The film also does a great job of showing that finding new love is not limited to people under forty. The jokes may sound familiar, but there is the added weight of experience behind them. A Grand Romantic Gesture is also able to showcase how falling for someone can fluster any person at anytime in their life.
It is unfortunate the film makes many decisions that take away from much of the enjoyment. The slow pace only seems to drag out the length of A Grand Romantic Gesture. The story and characters are not developed fully enough to warrant the almost two hour run time. As a result, many scenes that are meant to have a larger emotional impact end up falling flat.
A Grand Romantic Gesture also takes detours in the form of confessionals. These moments seem to have been added for no other reason than to provide audiences a deeper understanding of the characters. Unfortunately, they all seem out of place and further serve to water down what is an otherwise serviceable rom-com.
A Grand Romantic Gestures comes to digital platforms February 8
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