Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Has a “Magic Sex Worker” Problem

Critics are fawning over Good Luck to You, Leo Grande for its “brave” sex positivity. But the crowd-pleasing comedy is actually anxiously prescriptive, and it relies on an angelic and selfless sex worker to teach a middle-aged woman how to love her body.

Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. (Searchlight Pictures)


The reviews of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande practically write themselves. Based on a preview, or even a description, of the crowd-pleasing comedy that debuted to big cheers at the Sundance Film Festival and is now streaming on Hulu, you can generate something like this:

It’s a relief to see a film so frank about sex, and so open to sex’s complexities, especially when so much of current cinema is sexless to a disheartening degree. “Leo Grande” cares about sex for older women, and not just sex, but the baggage associated with sex, and how that baggage robs us of joy and fulfillment. Also revelatory is the film’s non-judgmental attitude towards sex work. . . .  These are tough topics. “Leo Grande” has a light touch, and the dialogue is often hilarious, but depth is never sacrificed. There is a moment when Emma Thompson stares at her naked body in the mirror, probably for the first time. Physical nakedness is one thing. Emotional nakedness is another. “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” has room for both.

Sure, sure. It can be generally agreed upon that ever-likable Emma Thompson gives a career-capping performance as a repressed middle-aged widow who hires a sex worker (Daryl McCormack of Peaky Blinders) to provide the erotic satisfaction her marriage never gave her. All very nice.

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