Grace Of My Heart

[1996, Movie]

Grace Of My Heart: Review

An all-singing look at American pop music of the late '50s and early '60s that doesn't really work as drama but hits the right nostalgic notes. Edna Buxton (Walter Keane-eyed gamine Illeana Douglas) wants to sing the heartfelt songs she's been writing for herself for years, and winning an amateur singing contest seems her ticket out of stifling life as a deb. But her Main Line mom sniffs contemptuously, record company scouts take one look at her gawky figure and turn away, and gleefully opportunistic promoter Joel Millner (John Turturro) tells her that her name is awful, her snooty background is unpromotable and girl singers are dead anyway, so why doesn't she write some hits for his all-male ensembles? Edna changes her name to Denise Waverly, invents a new personal history and gets involved with assorted Mr. Wrongs before coming into her own as a Carole King-type singer-songwriter. It's all very entertaining, and writer-director Allison Anders keeps the first hour from total shallowness with the judicious application of subtle, tough-minded period details. But as the '60s roll in and Denise marries Jay (Matt Dillon), an unstable cross between Beach Boy Brian Wilson and A STAR IS BORN's Norman Maine, the movie sinks hopelessly into melodramatic cliches and counterculture kitsch.