Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage      

"FAY GRIM"

Directed & Written by: Hal Hartley
Running time: 118 mins.
Release date: May 18, 2007
Genre: Drama/Comedy, Mystery and Thriller
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
MPAA Rating: R

This fresh and delightful offbeat sequel to the 1998 film HENRY FOOL picks up with Fay Grim (Parker Posey) of Woodside, New York as a single mom who's afraid her 14 year old son Ned (Liam Aiken) will grow up to be just like his father Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan) who is now a fugitive from justice for over seven years. It's suspected that Fay's brother Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) aided Henry in escaping prison, so he now is serving a ten year stretch.

When a CIA agent Fulbright (Jeff Goldblum) asks Fay to travel to Paris to retrieve some Henry's belongings, she discovers that her missing husband's notebooks contain secrets that could jeopardize national security and the international world of espionage. The marvel of this offbeat tale is the mission Fay takes on that turns into a sprawling con game. It seems that Henry was not the man he appeared to be - so says the CIA, which puts Fay deeper in the world of international espionage.

This spoof is a surprising noir-ish spy thriller that is quite moving and hilarious as it takes on the filming locations of Berlin, Germany - Istanbul, Turkey - New York City, NY - and Paris, France. Jeff Goldblum is perfectly casted for this undercover agent and Parker Posey is magnificient as the quirky Fay Grim.