[yasr_overall_rating]
A popular girl befriends a beautiful girl with down syndrome.
This film would be great to show at a Christian youth camp or club. Even a high school Bible study would enjoy the sweet and encouraging message of “Touched by Grace.” This is not destined to be a big screen film as the acting needs a severe overhaul. As heartening as the message is it hard to overlook the marred acting. This story is one that has been told many times; that of the popular mean girls picking on someone that doesn’t fit their definition of cool.
The film begins with Cara, a high-spirited teenager, with her loyalties cemented with the popular kids. We see her and her gang vandalizing a property with terms like Fat Pig scrolled across the garage. Soon after, Cara learns that she is moving to another town. Heartbroken, she says goodbye to her misguided popular group and accepts her fate. Once in the new town, it is not long before she crushes on a sensitive, caring young man with a heart for the disabled.
Cara quickly befriends Grace who happens to be afflicted with Down’s syndrome. It isn’t long before we gather that Cara really is not one of those mean girls but rather a follower. We learn this because Cara is genuinely friendly to sweet Grace; however, she quickly falls in with the mean girl crowd at school. Skylar, the head honcho of the mean girl tribe, has goals for her senior year, one of which is to become Homecoming Queen.
In classic form for this genre, Skylar ends up feeling slighted by her fellow students as Grace is awarded a spot for Homecoming Queen and Skylar is not. Grace now becomes the unwitting target of Skylar and unfortunately, Cara gets caught in the middle and tragedy definitely ensues.
Even with the poor acting, there were times where I felt the emotion of the main character, Cara, and her sorrow for what occurred with Grace. This film is ultimately about being kind to one another, treating each other using The Golden Rule, you know the one…do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but most importantly, it is about forgiveness. Because, really, we all need a reminder now and then.
Available now on DVD
