Movies

‘The Grand Seduction’ is a pleasant treat for audiences

It’s déjà vu all over again with this charming comedy about a picturesque village overcoming adversity by employing subterfuge — a genre that flourished around the turn of this century, when a French-Canadian version of “The Grand Seduction” was released stateside as “Seducing Dr. Lewis.’’

Don McKellar’s line-for-line remake casts Brendan Gleeson as the mayor of Tickle Head, a fishing village trying to get a plastic surgeon (Taylor Kitsch) — sentenced to a month of community service in town for cocaine possession — to stick around so the unemployed locals can land a recycling plant. (Plant honchos say they will only open if the town has a doctor.)

What will our young hero doc do when he discovers the townsfolk have been monitoring his conversations for clues about how to please him? Can he thaw out the only person in Tickle Head who doesn’t go out of her way to do so, prickly postmistress Liane Balaban? No points for guessing right, but the frequently funny “The Grand Seduction’’ is a thoroughly pleasant way to pass a couple of hours.