CANNES – Speaking to a colleague this evening, we felt it was clear “Grace of Monaco” is on its way to being one of those highly anticipated festival films that critics viciously pounce on when it's not good. Both myself and Guy Lodge are not fans of it, but we can admit it's entertaining in a bad movie way. The general word is so negative you'd think it was “Diana” or “God's Pocket” (it's bad, but it's not unwatchable in a campy way).
That being said, the reaction to “Grace” is making Harvey Weinstein's dispute with director Oliver Dahan over the final cut of the picture look more understandable by the minute. Let's be frank, 90% of the time the stories about Weinstein's tendency to want to re-edit a picture are cringe-worthy. But, that other 10%? Well, Harvey wouldn't have the track record he's established over the past 20 years if he wasn't right some of the time. In this case, reports indicate Weinstein has agreed to release “this” edit of the film (Dahan confirmed during the film's official press conference), but was able to substantially lower the US acquisition price from its original $5 million price tag.
With that in mind, check out the first of a number of regular video reports Lodge and I will be filing (time permitting) from the festival. You can watch it in the video player embedded at the top of this post.
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