Fall for Grace (Fay Ann Lee, Gale Harold, Margaret Cho, Ken Leung) – Talk about independent films, this movie by writer/director/star Fay Ann Lee was produced by Lee herself after she wrote the script in a class and couldn’t find a backer. Filmed in 2004 on a $2.5 million budget largely funded by Lee’s credit cards and enough friends and sponsors (there are so many Dunkin’ Donuts placements that you’d think they owned the film) that it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006. The ink on the movie says it played to standing-room-only crowds but that might be because it mentions the Tribeca area of New York City, was exclusively filmed in the Big Apple, and Lee’s cast probably all showed up for the screening. To its credit, this movie has a big feature look for what feels like an expanded short film. Shot actually quite beautifully in New York, this romantic comedy is quite formulaic but it is unique in that it is set in Chinatown and has a largely Chinese American cast and storyline.
Grace Tang (Lee), a mid-30s business woman in a mergers and acquisitions firm, is mistaken for an heiress by the same name at a high-society cocktail party. Grace desperately wants to move in those circles despite her roots in Chinatown. A dutiful, loving daughter to her immigrant parents who moved to the U.S. to give their daughter and deadbeat son (Leung) opportunities they never had, Grace never comes clean. Here, the “merry mix-ups,” upon which all “chick flicks” are predicated, begin. She meets the son of the heir to a rich, snobby Hamptons family played by Gale Harold, whose only major credit was as the lead in Showtimes’ Queer as Folk. But he works in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and is trying to expose the sweatshops operating in Chinatown. You can guess the rest of the story. It’s no worse than any other movie of this ilk nor is it better. Its ethnicity makes it very interesting while its storyline is contrived and full of holes.
The problem – and it’s a big one – is that it needs a script doctor badly. Lee, who marketed her own film to indy theaters and promised personal appearances if they’d show it, says the movie couldn’t get financing or those interested wanted to make major changes. They were probably right. The script is pretty weak. You can almost see the scenes as written. It’s a sophomoric effort in screenwriting that, in the hands of an experienced script doctor, could have been turned into a commercial success, particularly if coupled with some better casting. The acting is mediocre, not awful, with Lee passable, Harold just OK, and Margaret Cho as the best friend awful. That said, this is far from a waste of time. It’s enjoyable, well-filmed, and has a good score. But it’s not going to make it on the big screen. Look for it on cable someday.