The Big Picture

Four-time Emmy winner Dan Levy makes his feature writing and directorial debut with Good Grief, a film about a man grappling with the loss of his husband and uncovering secrets in his marriage. The film focuses on a main friendship trio, offering enjoyable dynamics, but it lacks depth and takes a safe approach. Good Grief finds its footing when it leans into levity and humor, but the script often feels cliché and fails to evoke emotions organically.

Four-time Emmy winner Dan Levy is branching out. After a hugely successful run being a quadruple threat on Schitt’s Creek, which he starred in, co-created, produced, and wrote and directed episodes of, Levy is making his feature writing and directorial debut with Good Grief. The film stars Levy as Marc, a man who finds himself both orphaned and widowed in the same year after his seemingly perfect husband Oliver (Luke Evans) unexpectedly dies. When Marc uncovers a shocking truth about his marriage a year after Oliver’s death, he and his best friends Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel) go on a trip to Paris to try to make sense of things and find closure.

Good Grief When his husband unexpectedly dies, Marc’s world shatters, sending him and his two best friends on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face. Release Date January 5, 2024 Runtime 100 minutes

What Is ‘Good Grief’ About?

Levy and Evans have fine enough chemistry, but the film doesn’t give us much time or reason to become truly invested in them. In fact, the relationship Marc kindles with a French man named Theo (Arnaud Valois) later in the film feels more exciting, as their banter is sharper, and they seem to get deeper, which is strange considering Marc and Oliver were actually married. Even Marc’s titular grief about losing Oliver doesn’t pack as much of a punch as it could due to the confusing pacing choices. The first year of Marc living without Oliver sees him try to distract himself and heal with his friends as well as struggle to find his artistic motivation again, but it drags a bit and doesn’t amount to much. In all honesty, the first 12 months could probably have been condensed down into a montage, as the movie doesn’t feel like it truly picks up until the twist of Marc realizing that Oliver had been keeping secrets from him, leading him to head to France with his companions.

Speaking of which, Good Grief smartly devotes much of its time to the main friendship trio. Though Sophie and Thomas feel somewhat stereotypical — Sophie is the wild free spirit who self-destructs instead of dealing with her emotions, and Thomas is the voice of reason who always feels reduced to being the sidekick — they are developed beyond their tropes, having clear flaws and wants outside of Marc’s plotline. The core three bounce off each other well, and it’s truly fun to see these powerhouses both support and spar with one another. Still, one can’t help but wish their moments of conflict went a little deeper and felt a bit meatier. It feels as if Levy is holding back a bit with his script, afraid to make the characters even a tinge unlikable at any moment, and the movie suffers for it.

The film’s opening feels almost like a play, taking place in the middle of a chaotic yet joyful Christmas party where Oliver leads a sing-along just moments before he gets into the car accident that leads to his untimely death. The theater-like vibe continues throughout the film, with poetic, reflective monologues about love and loss taking place one after the other in many long, single-location scenes. While this can work for certain projects, unfortunately, Good Grief’s script usually doesn’t feel strong enough to warrant them. Though the performances are solid, the dialogue is frequently cliché and simplistic, and you can feel your eyes start to glaze over in the middle of yet another speech about how to avoid sadness is to avoid love. The characters talk about their feelings often, and while that may be healthy in real life, it’s less engaging than watching characters actually experience them. The film relies heavily on telling us things rather than showing them to us.

‘Good Grief’ Is at Its Best When It Leans Into Levity
Image via Netflix

With Levy’s experience in the sitcom world, it’s no surprise that the film finds its footing when it leans into the light in the darkness and finds humor in the pain. At one point, Marc says he saw his husband “get pried out of a car like escargot” after his accident — one of the rare sparks of real personality and voice we get from our protagonist. When the film allows Marc to be messy and angry, irritatedly proclaiming things like “I didn’t know I’d woken up in 1988” when someone wants to smoke a cigarette at dinner, is when it’s at its most interesting. Sadly, those moments are few and far between, instead insisting on a more bland, dramatic tone that rings hollow. The sappy, sentimental score when Marc is remembering his good times with Oliver, for instance, feels rather emotionally manipulative. It’s clearly trying to make you cry instead of evoking those tears organically. It’s hard not to compare the movie to something like Sorry For Your Loss, which handled the subject of being a young widow in a much more raw, nuanced way.

Luckily, other moments feel more authentic — particularly in regards to how many queer characters are at the forefront and the spot-on integration of LGBTQ+ culture. Thomas watching The Real Housewives of New York City with Marc and claiming it “almost Shakespearean” made me laugh out loud, as did Marc saying he longs to “paint in a room overlooking the ocean like a sad lesbian in a period drama” and Sophie’s proclamation that her date is “bringing gays” to dinner to keep Marc and Thomas entertained. The always-excellent Kaitlyn Dever makes a cameo to give an extremely inappropriate and hilarious speech at Oliver’s funeral that feels targeted directly to a gay audience’s sense of humor. The film may be uneven, but the fact that we’re getting films about gay people where the tragedy doesn’t stem from their sexuality is heartening and something to champion, particularly considering it’s being made by LGBTQ+ talent.

Good Grief had a lot of potential, with themes of how to grieve a person you knew and how finding out new, upsetting information impacts that process, but it only skims the surface of the intriguing ideas it brings up, not delving deep enough to fulfill the promise of its premise in a satisfying way. While it’s a cozy and enjoyable enough watch with decent performances, Good Grief is too middling to be memorable, sticking to an overly sentimental tone despite its best moments having more edge and bite to them. As its title suggests, the film is often good, but it ultimately plays it too safe to ever amount to anything truly great.

Good Grief REVIEWGood Grief is a mixed bag of a feature directorial debut for Dan Levy that has moments of sincerity though never makes the most of its premise. When his husband unexpectedly dies, Marc’s world shatters, sending him and his two best friends on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face. ProsA strong central trio of friends with a fun dynamic Solid performances from Levy and the rest of the cast ConsThe film’s dialogue and reliance on telling often make things ring hollow It is hard to get truly invested in the central relationship that kicks everything off

Good Grief is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix