Grantham & Rose (2014)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I saw the trailer for this movie was was interested in it right away. Seemed unique and kooky. Sure it was a road trip movie, but it kept you guessing up until the last frame of what was going to happen.Even the opening & closing animations were well done. The story is about a boy who is thrown into juvie. We are never really told why. But it's implied it was for minor crimes. This normally would bother me in a movie, not being told back story. But this movie was so well made it did not bother me. Since the movie centered on what was to come.I like the older wise woman character. And found her well written. Her interactions with the other characters were spot on and endearing. Also liked the diversity of the cast. All too often people do CW casting. (The vampire diaries I'm looking at you!) Where the only people that seem to exist are young models. But here the cast varies in age, race, gender, style, etc.The second you assume the movie will become cliché it does not. Everything gets paid off even though it's a relatively short movie. There are 2 hour movies where the audience still has unanswered questions. The movie hits the ground running and does not bore the viewer with tedious set up. We get right into the action.I also liked how each character had depth and a back story. The pretty drifter with a broken family. The rebellious teen with a mess of a mother. The older woman with her own past and secrets. No one is perfect and I love that. Never did the older woman get preachy. She told it like it was. Even the small roles like the convenience store guy had depth! The troubled young guy asks him what's up and he says something like, among other things, his cholesterol.It was just a joy to watch this. I highly recommend this movie to anyone that wants to see character development, good acting, and a plot instead of two hours of random supermodels having things blown up around them for unknown reasons.