Watch Grace of My Heart For Free

Absolutely the worst movie.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

A wonderful performance by Illeana Douglas is the main attraction of this roman a clef of what might have happened if Carole King and Brian Wilson had become a couple. Not entirely successful but much more than a chick flick romance.Parallel to this version of the early days of rock and roll, the undervalued Laraine Newman plays another Carole King avatar in "American Hot Wax," a heartfelt tribute to Alan Freed featuring Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry playing themselves 20 years earlier as well as a goofy Jay Leno. Warner Brothers record producer Richard Perry eerily channels Lou Reed in the Phil Spector role John Turturro has here.

Character actress Illeana Douglas is such a reassuring presence on the screen that she ALMOST makes "Grace of My Heart" worth-seeing. In a thinly-disguised biography of Carole King, Douglas plays a singer-turned-songwriter in the early-'60s who feels the pressure of being a female under the thumb of powerful males in the music-biz but makes no major decisions about it; she's a strong woman, but also a go-alonger, and eventually she gets her chance to shine. The movie has some great scenes, but they aren't strung together smoothly, and the narrative keeps getting interrupted by half-comic bits of romantic confusion. Eric Stoltz (filling in for Gerry Goffin) cuts a nice figure in his shades and suits, but he has no personality; when he treats Douglas cruelly, there seems to be nothing at stake for her beyond raising their child alone (certainly she could do better). Several key supporting roles are wonderfully filled, particularly by John Turturro as a record producer and Bruce Davison as a radio-host (both are charming). Much of the music is dead-on in its nostalgia, the production values are fine, and Douglas is simply terrific (her toothy smile and wide eyes are endearing); yet the film hits a bump just before the final act and never recovers. Interest wanes, and that's too bad because Douglas works engagingly hard at creating a character we should care more about. **1/2 from ****

I was reminded of how really good this movie is today when I saw it on T.V. (with commercials ugh) I've seen it a few times before and every time I watch it, I bawl like a baby and I'm a guy. A really tough guy. But this movie goes straight to my heart and puts a squeeze on it through the wonderful music, the sweet nostalgia and what a cast!Illeana Douglas is beautiful and she really plays her character with great talent. She's supported by a strong cast and how can you go wrong with Turturro playing Phil Specter? The first time I saw this there was something familiar about the music; the songs, like "God give me Strength". As much as I like Elvis Costello, that scene of Illeana performing it for Matt (Brian Wilson) Dillon was such a unique delivery of a pure and powerful vocal. I later found that the 'familiarity' is Burt Bacharach and the 'voice' is Kristin Vigard: Wow! Back in those days there was such an explosion of music and creativity and Burt Bacharach was truly a pop force.I loved the Brill Building scenes, especially when they were working on the songs. I thought the movie lost something when it moved west to California but was deeply moved by Douglas and Turturro 'having it out' at the empty poolside. The final song with the flashbacks and her crowning achievement of recording that "one great album" had me weeping again. I really like this movie so I ordered the DVD online.

Interviewer: I wanted to ask you about Grace of My Heart. I've read that Bridget Fonda's closeted lesbian teen character Kelly Porter was based at least partially on you.Leslie Gore: Well, I think that's what they were trying to intimate. Was it true? I don't know, everyone seemed to be based on somebody and yet the stories weren't absolutely carved in stone. There was sort of a Carole King character, sort of a Brian Wilson character. So I think that was their intent.Interviewer: Did you have any input when they were developing that character? Leslie Gore: You know, I really didn't. They called me up to write one of the songs and I felt good that they called me, and then the next thing I knew, I received a song in the mail written by two guys, whose names I can't even remember, and I was so disappointed that I wasn't brought in on the ground level.And basically when I heard the song, I thought it was kind of terrible, so what I wound up doing is what I call doctoring, which is making some changes to make it a little more palatable. There were things that were totally unmelodic, and there were some lyrics that were just horrible, and I wound up making it, to my mind, a little bit better, and then I got a third writer's credit. And then they had the nerve never even to invite me to the opening when it premiered in New York. So I say screw them. So if it was meant to be me, they didn't handle it very well. There may have been some exploitative motive there--I won't second guess it--but that's what I suspect.