Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and drug references, 113 min. For showtimes and pricing, go to http://www.salinaartcenter.org, or call the Cinema at 785-452-9868.
It's rather surprising that director Jean-François Pouliot's comedy Seducing Doctor Lewis, an international hit in 2003, took so long to get an English-language remake. The set-up is great: a remote Newfoundland fishing village called Tickle Head has fallen on hard economic times and desperately needs the jobs that a potential petrochemical factory will bring in. Problem is, the company won't build the factory unless the village has a doctor--any sort of doctor even the hotshot young plastic surgeon who's just sticking around for a month as "community service" after getting busted for cocaine possession. The village mayor Murray French (Brendan Gleeson) comes up with a plan to con Dr. Lewis (Taylor Kitsch) into making his visit permanent--byteaming up with the crusty locals to make Tickle Head so charming that an ambitious young doctor would be dying to call home. Can they pull it off? Director Don McKellar's remake is a throwback to high concept comedies of the '80s and '90s (the plot owes a little something to the Michael J. Fox vehicle Doc Hollywood). The comedy comes from the villagers gamely play-acting to fit the doctor's idea of the perfect small town (they take up the game of cricket because it's his favorite sport, though no one has any idea how to play). The Grand Seduction is as amiable and good-natured as Pouliot's original--in fact, viewers may find themselves "seduced" by Newfoundland, too: cinematographer Douglas Koch makes the seashores and rocky promontories especially picturesque and inviting. The cast is a lot of fun, including Liane Balaban as town beauty Kathleen and Gordon Pinsent as Murray's friend Simon, who has wonderful comic rapport with Gleeson. And a unique bond forms between burly Brendan Gleeson and clean-cut, good-looking Taylor Kitsch. Murray starts to become genuinely attached to Dr. Lewis, losing his resolve and becoming the decent bloke we suspected he was from the beginning. And Dr. Lewis turns out to be a much more interesting person than the shallow, pleasure-seeking partier he seemed at first. The movie is gentle and low-key--perfect entertainment for those with a nostalgic taste for the character-driven comedies that Hollywood used to do so well.