The film scored a brilliant 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Released in cinemas on 17 June 2022 – one week after Jurassic World: Dominion, one week before Elvis, and on the exact same day as Pixar’s Lightyear – it is safe to say that Good Luck To You, Leo Grande was overlooked last year.
The movie made just $6.4 million at the worldwide box office, but has maintained a support from those who did see it ever since, culminating with Emma Thompson landing a Best Actress Performance in a Comedy or Musical at this year’s Golden Globes. She’s up against Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Menu), Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris) and Margot Robbie (Babylon), so chances are that the movie will be overlooked once again.
Which also nicely feeds into the movie itself, which revolves around Nancy (Thompson), who believes she has been overlooked a lot in her lifetime, but more specifically, she believes she’s never had good sex.
Now retired, she decides to do something about it, by getting a hotel room for a night, and enlisting the services a sex worker who goes by the name Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), who takes a lot of pride in being good at his job.
Essentially a two-hander built around a pair of fantastic performances, the movie dives into big topics like sexuality, ageism, sex work, self-confidence and self-acceptance, but never lets any of that get in the way of being an entertaining comedy.
Upon release, the critics were practically unanimous in their praise:
The Washington Post – “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande turns out to be a wise, amusing, unexpectedly touching exploration of human psyches, the bodies that house them and radical self-acceptance – by way of a literate two-hander executed by actors at supreme ease with each other and, by extension, their audience.”
A.V. Club – “It’s a sexually frank and intimate story told in a pleasingly mainstream manner that avoids greeting card clichés and empty ‘girl power’ posturing.”
Empire – “Deftly handled direction from Sophie Hyde and a thoroughly impressive dual performance from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack enlivens an electric script, tackling taboo sexual subjects with wit, flair and welcome realism.”
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is available to watch on Prime Video right now.
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