Maria, Full of Grace is one of those Foreign sleepers that you love if you go in with no expectations and are disappointed by if you go in with a head-full of all of it's critical praise. Though there is certainly much to admire about MFG, it's deliberate, detailed, almost documentary-like pace, may leave many audience members somewhat detached. There I've said it, this isn't that great of a film but I will say this.

First and foremost MFG introduces us to Catalina Sandino Moreno a radiant beauty who offers an award-worthy performance as the film's namesake. Her introduction into roster of thespianism is enough to recommend Maria, Full or Grace. In fact the biblical title is interestingly apt, she is with child and sets off on a harrowing journey, not on a mule, but actually as a mule. A mule is a drug-trafficking term for one who transports controlled substances - in this case the drug is heroin, pure Colombian.

Out of frustration with her suffocating life at home and work and with the promise of a big payday, Maria chooses to try her luck in this black market commerce and thus sets out on a rather risky business trip. But, as she is soon to learn, being a mule is no picnic at the beach. She's expected to ingest mini-balloons filled with powder, and not just a few, as she is at first told - more like 60. If even one balloon should break or leak in your stomach, she learns from an older mule, you die. If you fail to deliver the exact count of balloons to your New York contact, your whole family dies.

This is definitely a juicy scenario, but the film unfolds with such studied detachment that any emotional impact that it might have offered soon evaporates and after she arrives in New York the film loses tension and focus and my interest. The movie keeps its emotional distance even during the plane flight north, as Maria and other mules learn the cruel calculus of their mission - many are sent in hopes that a few might sift through. Accidents claim some, Customs net others, and Maria eludes these traps presumably out of grace.

What keeps the movie watchable isn't its politically, culturally charged material, but something more basic - the fact that its young star, Catalina Moreno, is strikingly beautiful and also the fact that, despite the dark nature of her business we are rooting for her to succeed. In a world where right and wrong are painted so plainly in black and white, Maria Full of Grace casually explores this vast gulf of gray. If the film has a saving grace is that it allows the audience to decide for themselves if what Maria has decided to do is right or wrong.