October 3, 2000, updated and corrected October 7, 2001 -- "Saving Grace" is one of those whimsical films about charming, eccentric characters in a small, isolated English village. It is reminiscent of movies like "Waking Ned Devine," or "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain."

Grace, (played by Brenda Blethyn of "Little Voice"), a very gentile lady, finds out her recently deceased husband has left her saddled with heavy debts. If she is unable to pay, she will be evicted from her estate. She hits upon an idea to grow marijuana as a way to save her home. Aided by several co-conspirators, she begins to grow a very healthy crop of hemp in her greenhouse, using ridiculously bright lights and a hydroponics system.

In order to keep one of her co-conspirators, Matthew (well-played by Craig Ferguson of "The Drew Carey Show"), out of trouble, she goes to the city to find a drug dealer. Her attempt to find drug dealers on street corners is pretty funny. The drug transaction does not quite go as planned. The ending of the movie is outrageously improbable, but this is obviously a very whimsical movie.

Blethyn is very good in the title character. She seems very much like a proper English lady in some respects. She seems at once warm and vulnerable with emotions very close to the surface. There's a very nice scene between Grace and her late husband's mistress where Grace reveals how much she was hurt by her husband's philandering. Martin Clunes of "Shakespeare in Love" plays the very likeable Dr. Bamford, a character who serves no real purpose in the story except to lounge around and say clever things. Tchéky Karyo of "The Patriot" plays the enigmatic drug dealer Jacques Chevalier. Valerie Edmond ("Fierce Creatures") plays Matthew's love interest, Nicky.

Of course, this wouldn't be a movie about marijuana without the obligatory scene in which everybody gets stoned and starts frolicking around (some of them in the buff). These scenes always give the impression that it is loads of fun to be stoned. One scene has a couple of elderly ladies stoned on Alice B. Toklas tea. They get the giggling munchies, freaking out an investment banker in their shop. The funniest scenes, however, arise from the eccentric characters themselves. This whimsical humor is a nice change of pace from the vulgar sorts of comedies that are more common these days. This film rates a C+.

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