"Running for Grace" had the potential to be one of those wonderful little gems, but a story in which director and writer David L. Cunningham, fails to give the attention to the meat of the story: the romantic connection between Jo and Grace.

The amount of screen time shared between Jo and Grace is barely 15 minutes. Do you really believe that's enough time to show two people developing a connection and falling in love? Imagine if Rose and Jack only had that much time in "Titanic." Or Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca." Exactly. Neither of those films would have been given a second look.

The story tells about Jo, a boy born as a half-breed. His mother dies of an illness, and he's left homeless as well as completely shunned by the Japanese community of coffee pickers and workers. Finally, he's taken in by Doc (Matt Dillon, who is very much miscast). Portraying a loving and tender man who develops a connection with Jo is completely lost, due to the terrible writing and underplayed performance by Dillon that just isn't very believable.

Cunningham should have focused on the relationship between Jo and Grace as well as Jo and Doc (and he should have found someone else for this part). Everything else should have been much more secondary and peripheral. Had he done this, we would have been treated to a very delightful film. Instead, we're given a film that desperately tries to be something that it's not because Cunningham tries to keep "too many fires lit" rather than putting his focus on the only one that matters.

It's truly a shame as this film had incredible potential but ultimately ends up being a disappointment due to amateur writing, directing, and miscasting.

It's interesting to have a movie dealing with racism in Hawaii for a change. A half Japanese boy is an aspiring doctor and falls for a white girl. Ryan Potter is the hafu.

Matt Dillon plays a country doc and should act in proper movies like this more instead of those way out things he does.

Worth a watch

The scenery and photography are outstanding. The rest of the movie is sadly lacking in dramatic content.