When their car breaks down in an isolated area, 3 men call at the home of religious devotee Harold and asked for his assistance. Having no telephone to call for help, Harold offers to help fix their car so they can get back on the road. However, the longer they stay at Harold's the more uncomfortable they become with him and soon find themselves increasingly desperate to leave...
Films where people's cars break down in films of old and become stranded have slightly more credibility (before mobile phones you really were in trouble if you were out in the middle of nowhere). However, in the year 2020 the idea of 3 men travelling across the country with not a mobile phone between them is too much of a stretch in credibility. I could understand them trying to use a mobile and getting no signal, but at no point is it ever mentioned that any of them have one which just makes no sense at all in this day and age.
I also couldn't quite get to grips with the family and their mentality; on the one hand Harold says that they don't need anyone or anything locally as they have everything they need within their 25 acres of land yet they have a modern bathroom which is fully tiled, some modern light fittings lamps etc in some parts of the house and yet in other parts of the house it goes back to looking a bit Amish which ultimately had me a little confused.
Having said that, if we concentrate on the characters and the narrative then it is fairly good. Harold is a ticking time bomb and you always sense that the men are one blaspheme away from big trouble. The hook with this film is wondering who will escape and how they will achieve it? There's a bit of tension in the finale, but I won't reveal anymore than that.
The acting is generally fine with Bruce Davison clearly being the standout player. The narrative is fast-paced whereby there's always something going on and there are some twists and turns late on just to keep things spiced up.
We Still Say Grace isn't fresh or new and neither is it a particularly brilliant film, but it does well for what it is and despite some flaws it is still fairly entertaining.
