Gracie's Choice: A Story of Love is a 2004 Lifetime original movie directed by Peter Werner and starring Kristen Bell, Anne Heche, and Diane Ladd, with Kristin Fairlie, Shedrack Anderson III, Brian Akins, David Gibson McLean, Jack Armstrong, and Sandra Caldwell in supporting roles.
Grace "Gracie" Thompson (Bell) is the eldest daughter of Rowena Lawson (Heche), a drug addict constantly on the run from the police. One day, Rowena is arrested, and so Gracie and her four younger half-siblings end up with their grandmother Louella (Ladd). After so many years, Gracie makes a very difficult choice; she wants to adopt her siblings.
Bell and Heche both received critical acclaim for their performances in this film, with the latter even earning an Emmy Award nomination for her work.
Tropes:
- Abusive Offspring: Rowena repeatedly takes advantage of her mother's denial and steals money from her.
- Abusive Parents: Rowena, full stop. Throughout the movie, she neglects her children, and when she is there, she smokes around them and manipulates them; and these are among the less terrible things she does.
- Adults Are Useless: Rowena fails to protect/stand up for Gracie after her boyfriend Ray gropes and assaults her.
- Alliterative Name: Louella Larson.
- Ambiguous Situation: Rowena put out a restraining order against Gracie's father, claiming that he beat Gracie, however when questioned, Mr. Thompson claims it was Rowena who beat Gracie. Was Rowena lying about Mr. Thompson beating Gracie to keep him away from her, or was Mr. Thompson lying about not beating Gracie to weasel his way back into her life.
- Armor-Piercing Response: How Gracie shuts Rowena up during an outburst:Rowena: You're going to hell!
Gracie: I was born in hell! - Daddy Didn't Show: Rowena fails to show up at both the first court date and Louella's funeral.
- Determinator: Gracie is going to get custody of her siblings, and nothing is going to stop her. She succeeds.
- Gilligan Cut: A dramatic use of the trope occurs when Gracie first decides to start fighting to adopt her brothers:Gracie: I'll be their mother!(scene cuts to Rowena, having found out about Gracie's intentions)Rowena: You...are not their mother!
- In-Series Nickname:
- "Grandma Lou" for Louella.
- "Rosie" for Rose.
- Hope Spot: When Ray wakes Gracie up and asks her to come outside to talk, it initially seems he's a genuine guy who sympathizes with Gracie's situation and will provide her with a shoulder of support. But then he aggressively touches her knee, revealing his true intentions with Gracie and foreshadowing his later attempt to force himself on her.
- I Will Find You: After getting her parental rights terminated, Rowena swears to her children that no matter where they go, she will find them, before running out of the courtroom in tears. Whether or not she means it, and whether or not it was genuine or a threat, is ambiguous.
- Junkie Parent: Rowena's poor treatment of her children stems from her drug addiction.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Gracie's brothers pick out their new surname from one of the judges in the courthouse. It also doubles as a Meaningful Name, as the judge's name is "Weatherly" as the family was able to "weather" a lot of bad times.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Jonny's full name is Jonathan.
- Gracie's full name is Grace.
- Promotion to Parent: Gracie's goal in the series is to adopt her siblings. She succeeds.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Discussed. Rowena attempts to regain custody of her sons, citing how she's now sober, insists that she loves her children and wants to take them to a new home out of state. However, her unreliability and past abuse causes each of her sons, one by one, to choose Gracie over her. The oldest boy even calls her out of this behavior.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gracie's boyfriend Tommy ultimately leaves her when he finds out she plans to adopt her brothers.
- Teen Pregnancy: In the middle of the film, Rose (said to be a sophomore in high school) gets knocked up, which leads to her leaving the family for good.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Rowena's last appearance in the movie ends with her storming out of the courtroom after getting her parental rights terminated, without being arrested or otherwise detained.
- Villainous Breakdown: Rowena has one when her parental rights are terminated.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Rose gets pregnant and leaves the family, the subplot is dropped almost entirely. Rose shows up at Louella's funeral just about ready to pop, and again at Gracie's graduation postpartum, but she is never shown getting married, her boyfriend disappears from the movie, and the baby is never shown at all.
- Would Harm a Senior: Rowena shoves her elderly mother when Louella tries to stop her from attacking Gracie during their big fight.
- Would Hit a Girl: Rowena's boyfriend Ray smacks Gracie in the face when she fights back against his sexual advances.
