Grace is Gone (2007)

Cusack Plays: Stanley Phillips whose solider wife dies in Iraq.

Another film, another dead wife. He's really not having much luck.

So if anyone ever says that Cusack isn't a great actor or that he plays the same role in every film, this is the one you bring out to show it ain't so. Gone is the sarky, sexy, witty Cusack and here emerges a different guy, playing the rather dowdy father of two girls whose mother is killed in Iraq. He can't bring himself to tell them so instead they take a road trip, where he struggles to connect with them and break the news.

It's simple stuff, with a thin plot and relying on the strong acting performaces (Cusack and the two young actresses are excellent). In fact its the kind of performance you get nominated for an Oscar for, but no such luck here. I don't think the timing of its release was great, and came at a time when people really didn't want to see another Iraq film, and it didn't even get a UK release - I remember waiting in vain at the time. It did get two Golden Globe nominations though - for the score, by the one and only Mr Clint Eastwood.

Sad, sweet, and yes there were a few tears by the end.

Boy does he look different with those glasses on.

While he was promoting this one he managing to get interviewed by this silly cow who got him mixed up with Kevin Spacey. Doh.