Rotten
Moral dilemmas faced by immature teens is fine fare for young-adult fiction, but a movie that wants them to be taken as something bigger needs better management than Nearing Grace can provide.
Ted Fry, Seattle Times
Nearing Grace
What if the one thing you want is the last thing you need?
2006 · 1h 45m · R
Drama, Romance
Directed by
Rick Rosenthal
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
Nearing Grace
Overview
Having recently lost his mother, teenager Henry Nearing develops a crush on seductive classmate Grace, who toys with him. Though he has been friends with Merna for a long time, he fails to see her sincere attraction to him, and instead wastes time with the uncaring Grace.
Director and cast
- Rick Rosenthal Director
- Gregory Smith as Henry Nearing
- Jordana Brewster as Grace Chance
- Ashley Johnson as Merna Ash
- David Moscow as Blair Nearing
- Chad Faust as Lance
- Brian Doyle-Murray as Clement C. Haydes
- Logan Bartholomew as Tripp
- David Morse as Shep Nearing
- Amy Main as Strawberry
- Sharon Lawrence as Mrs. Ash
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
48%
Tomatometer
Rotten
The story here is as dog-eared as an old beach book, and about as deep.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Rotten
The performances by Smith, Brewster and veteran David Morse, as a morbidly depressed widower, elevate Nearing Grace to something near grace.
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
Fresh
...cinematic youth has rarely seemed so convincingly uncertain, and Brewster could definitely drive a young guy crazy.
Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice
Fresh
Smart, funny and, thanks in no small part to David Geddes' cinematography, it occasionally approaches the poetic.
Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times
More films
Fire with Fire (1986)
Drama · Romance · PG-13
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
- Runtime
- 1h 43m
- Director
- Duncan Gibbins
- Cast
- Craig Sheffer, Virginia Madsen, Jon Polito
IMDb
6.6
Crazy/Beautiful (2001)
Drama · Romance · PG-13
At Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from the affluent neighborhood.
- Runtime
- 1h 39m
- Director
- John Stockwell
- Cast
- Kirsten Dunst, Jay Hernandez, Bruce Davison
IMDb
6.4
Rotten Tomatoes
63%
Metacritic
61
Winter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Drama · Romance · R
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
- Runtime
- 1h 37m
- Director
- Tiffany Paulsen
- Cast
- Jenna Ortega, Percy Hynes White, Adam Rodriguez
IMDb
6.1
Rotten Tomatoes
31%
Chemical Hearts (2020)
Drama · Romance · R
When a hopelessly romantic high school senior falls for a mysterious new classmate, it sets them both on an unexpected journey that teaches them about love, loss, and most importantly themselves.
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Director
- Richard Tanne
- Cast
- Austin Abrams, Lili Reinhart, Sarah Jones
IMDb
6.3
Rotten Tomatoes
59%
Metacritic
57
Newness (2017)
Drama · Romance · Unrated
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
- Runtime
- 1h 52m
- Director
- Drake Doremus
- Cast
- Nicholas Hoult, Laia Costa, Danny Huston
IMDb
6.3
Rotten Tomatoes
71%
Metacritic
50
School of Magical Animals 4 (2025)
Family · Fantasy · N/A
Ida's friend Miriam visits the school for three months, but a secret threatens to tear them apart. Miriam is entrusted with the tarsier Fitzgeraldo, while Max, deeply in love, is given the owl Muriel. Meanwhile, the sale of the school is imminent, and the future of the magical community is in peril.
- Runtime
- 1h 42m
- Director
- Bernhard Jasper, Maggie Peren
- Cast
- Emilia Maier, Loris Sichrovsky, Marleen Lohse
IMDb
5.7
Color of the Ocean (2012)
Drama · N/A
After years working as a border patrolman, José has developed a salty crust of cynicism about his work, which places him in a position to decide the fates of many. José's weary attitude is put to the test when he encounters Nathalie, a German tourist assisting a boatload of refugees she discovered landing on the Canary shores. One of t...
- Runtime
- 1h 35m
- Director
- Maggie Peren
- Cast
- Álex González, Hubert Koundé, Nathalie Poza
IMDb
6.6
Die hellen Tage
Die hellen Tage (2027)
Comedy · Drama · N/A
- Director
- Maggie Peren
- Cast
- Karoline Herfurth, Julia Jentsch, Emilia Maier
Comments
Talk about the film with other members