Grace Trevethen has a beautiful house in Cornwall, filled with the orchids and exotic blossoms she grows so expertly in her greenhouse. When Grace's husband dies, she finds he has left her a mound of debt. What to do? With the help of her gardener, Grace comes up with an unusual scheme to make money quickly.

They'll grow marijuana.

That's the basic idea behind Saving Grace, a deliciously funny British comedy that stars Brenda Blethyn (Secrets And Lies) as Grace and Craig Ferguson as her gardener.

Ferguson, best known to audiences here from his work on such sitcoms as the Drew Carey Show, co-wrote the film.

Saving Grace has drama, emotion, intrigue, romance and many large laughs -- but no jokes.

Like The Full Monty or the '50s British films known as the Ealing Comedies, Saving Grace draws all its humour from character and situation.

Grace is a genteel woman with a green thumb, but no knowledge of finance or the workings of the outside world. Or so she thinks. One of the pleasures of the movie is watching Grace discover long-dormant talents for math, strategic planning, salesmanship and marketing.

The whole village, meanwhile, fully aware of what Grace and the gardener are up to, turn a blind eye to the proceedings.

The usual raft of local eccentrics is played by Martin Clunes as the physician who is not above a toke or two, Valerie Edmond as a fisherwoman and the gardener's beloved, Leslie Phillips as the vicar, Phyllida Law as the village nosey parker and Diana Quick as the helpful mistress of Grace's dead husband.

French actor Tcheky Karyo plays a not-very-menacing drug dealer.

Saving Grace is full of bizarre but believable characters and unlikely situations. The movie ends in a particularly daffy fashion, but the performances are never, for a second, disappointing.

Blethyn is entirely appealing as Grace, a role written specifically for her. Ferguson is charming in his role of helpful, dope-smoking gardener.

All the marijuana plants in Saving Grace, just in case you're interested, are real. Thanks to a Crown dispensation, hemp plants were brought into Port Isaac for filming, with the local constabulary offering to guard them at night.

People, places, dope -- everything in Saving Grace rings true. Makes for a delightful movie.

(This film is rated PG)

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