Reception
Falling from Grace was given a very limited release in February 1992, only being shown in select cinemas across America. Being produced on an estimated $3 million budget, the film was a significant box office flop, only taking in $231,826 in domestic ticket sales. Columbia Pictures removed it from theaters in March 1992, not even a month after the film's limited release was announced.
Critical reception was a bit more gracious, but even so, some critics reacted very harshly towards the film. Among its biggest fans were Siskel and Ebert. On their television program in February 1992, the film received a "Two Thumbs Up" rating with Gene Siskel saying it was a very well written, acted, directed, honest and intelligent film and even captured small town life better than films like Driving Miss Daisy and Steel Magnolias, which received Oscar recognition. He even ranked it as high as Tender Mercies, the 1983 Oscar-winning film with Robert Duvall as a struggling country singer. Roger Ebert agreed with Siskel claiming that he was surprised how great the directing and acting was, and said that he wanted the word to get around that it was one of the best films of the year, although this film never actually made Siskel and Ebert's Best List for the year of 1992.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film a positive review. Among the critics who had a passionate dislike for the film were Jeffrey Lyons and Michael Medved of the television program Sneak Previews. Leonard Maltin also had a strong dislike for the film. In his book Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide he gave the film a BOMB rating (the worst rating a film can receive from Maltin), calling it "warmed over Larry McMurtry tripe," saying Kay Lenz's performance was the only thing to avoid cliche and that Mellencamp's performance was "simply boring."
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