Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande turns out to be a wise, amusing, unexpectedly touching exploration of human psyches, the bodies that house them and radical self-acceptance — by way of a literate two-hander executed by actors at supreme ease with each other and, by extension, their audience.

Thompson is truly better than ever and brings to life a complex and evolving person with humor, grace and a sharp edge. McCormack, meanwhile, is a star in the making. And together, the two are magnetic in this wonderfully adult film that is funny, sad, awkward, empowering and illuminating.

Taking place almost entirely inside a hotel room, it’s a movie bathed in poignance and sweetness as well as sex and longing.

Deftly handled direction from Sophie Hyde and a thoroughly impressive dual performance from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack enlivens an electric script, tackling taboo sexual subjects with wit, flair and welcome realism.

Those who don’t appreciate films built on the simple foundation of two characters (mostly) talking for the entire running length aren’t going to enjoy what Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is selling, even if sex underlies nearly every passage of dialogue. The movie is funny at times and touching at others but it’s never especially erotic (nor is it intended to be).

The characters have enough layers to seem human, fully-formed and in equal measure loveable and contemptible.

Despite a sterling effort from Thompson, neither the comedy nor the character arcs are fully satisfying.

It's not getting there, it's how that matters: An entertaining and fresh reflection on sex in middle age, in a four-act comedy, with a mini-cast featuring an unusual but courageous Emma Thompson.

If you're looking for the practical fun of romances, it's a talkative waiting game, but thanks to the main cast's wits and their clumsy attempts to reach the goal concealed behind pertinence and modesty, you'll have a good laugh in between, and Emma Thompson hasn't yet made an appearance that's worth watching. One more warning to anyone from orgasmical dysfunction: this is not the recipe from the handbook that will give you that stars-and-stripes sensation, but the grumpy old man believes it is preferable than eating scallop. I endorse.

It was well thought out and charming, definitely a covid production. Overall, was well made.

Darryl McCormack begins well - his liquid eyes are impossible to dismiss - but then monotony takes over and when the writing gets overheated as well as over-the-top-phony, he does what he can with very little - Emma Thompson, for her part, deploys a wide range of line readings and remarkable nuance with a paper thin script - yet, I had to wonder why she agreed to sign on to this misadventure - has she exhausted every option except blowjobs, I had to ask myself - and more than once. Always nice to see her, but this movie is a fine argument for the need to develop worthwhile projects for women beyond the age of 20.

bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.