Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) – Movie Review | Jimmy at Sundance | Emma Thompson

Servus Freunde, my name is Jimmy Cage and
among the about twenty movies that I have
seen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival,
this one was one of the highlights.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE is a British
comedy drama, that was written by Katy Brand
and directed by Sophie Hyde.
It was shot during the pandemic and its setting
and concept is pretty much the perfect one
to be shot in difficult times like these.
It’s basically a chamber play, that with
the exception of one scene, only features
two characters and is pretty much entirely
happening in only one hotel room.
It’s the story of Nancy Stokes, a 55-year-old
retired widow, played by the great Emma Thompson,
who has never had good and fulfilling sex
in her entire life and who decides to hire
a young sex worker called Leo Grande, to finally
explore her long-held curiosity.
The film is exactly that.
The encounter of these two very different
human beings.
The strikingly good-looking and handsome and
surprisingly sophisticated sex worker Leo
Grande is played by Daryl McCormack and the
Nancy Stokes by the already mentioned Emma
Thompson.
If these two actors wouldn’t have such a
great chemistry, the movie wouldn’t

work.
But thankfully they are wonderful together.
And if the script wouldn’t be so witty and
funny, the movie wouldn’t work either.
But thankfully comedian Katy Brand has put
a lot of comedy as well as drama into it.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE is basically
90 minutes of two people just talking.
Getting to know each other and while doing
so exploring several themes.
Of course sexuality and intimacy, but also
empowerment, family, expectations and age.
It’s really a lot of fun to see these two
characters interact and the title refers to
Nancy warning Leo from the get-go that he
will have a pretty difficult time with her
and that he definitely shouldn’t expect
to make her come, because she never ever had
an orgasm in her life, not even on her own.
The movie is all about sex and yet it’s
about so much more or maybe sex is just so
much more than a lot of people associate with
it.
It’s a film about human connection, about
the importance of exploring and without prejudices
living out your sexuality.
It’s about warmth, about fun, about being
there for one another.
The film has a wonderful, empowering sex positive
attitude and it’s so genuine about it.
It makes a strong case for normalizing sex
as well as sex work and not hiding or forgetting
about our needs.
And definitely not judging other people.
And this goes even beyond the sexual aspects,
as we also learn a lot more about these two
people and their lives.
Yet the film clearly also benefits a lot from
its setting.
I mean, it’s about two people who meet to
have sex.
That’s the basic idea and that’s of course
automatically setting an incentive to watch
along.
Sure, we are here to watch these two wonderful
actors and have a great time with the witty
script and the back and forth.
But it’s also about the tension of the situation
and we are also here for our own voyeuristic
pleasure and curiosity what the movie might
show.
And the movie definitely knows that as well
and it’s obvious that it has fun teasing
us and the characters.
But then it’s also doing something with
the structure that I assume most people won’t
expect and without giving it away, it helps
a lot to flesh out these two characters and
their growing relationship.
And to say it one more time, both Emma Thompson
and Daryl McCormack are fantastic here and
strangely enough, you might certainly call
this one a true feel-good movie and crowd-pleaser.
I give GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE 8 out
of 10.
It’s more like 7.7 but I don’t do that.
Alright, that’s it for today.
You can hit me up, on Twitter, Instagram and
Letterboxd – and also on Patreon – simply
at The Jimmy Cage.
And if you enjoyed this episode, please give
me a thumbs up, share, subscribe – whatever
you like.
And make sure you hit that bell, for all I
have to tell!