Nathaniel reporting from Sundance. Or, rather, from Manhattan, while still thinking of Sundance and possibly my favorite film from that trip...
The first chapter of Grandma, an ornery new female-driven comedy, is called “Endings” a counterintuitive opening title, perhaps, but appropriate. Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin) doesn’t have much taste for beginnings. A year and half before our story begins, this "writer-in-residence," who had a brief period of reknown as a feminist poet, lost her life partner of nearly 40 years to cancer. She’s still bitter about it. We know that her new girlfriend of four months Olivia will soon be shown the door because she's played by Judy Greer who is contractually obliged to never have more than 3 scenes in a movie. [More...]
So 'Endings' refers to Olivia. Elle is cooly and cruelly dumping her in the opening scene as a mere "footnote" when she asked if this relationship ever meant anything at all to her. That's way harsh, Tai.
We know of course that it did. Cut to: Elle crying in the shower alone. See, Elle is one of those icy hilarious misanthropes whose heart, however small or large, is carefully obscured from view. It's an archetype that the movies have always been fond of but usually only in the form of middle-aged to senior men (think Jack Nicholson forever and Bill Murray recently). We know that Elle will have to thaw at least a little bit over the course of the movie but first we’ll vicariously thrill to her take-no-bullshit frankness and hilarious dismantling of everyone and everything that annoys her… which turns out to be quite a lot. At least what the first chapter suggests. But all credit to the magnificent Lily Tomlin because she doesn't play it quite like that. She immediately eschews "type" for three dimensions. Her heart, however self-protecting, is just as visible from the get go as her sorrow, her backstory, her anger and her intellect though the latter two get the noisiest workout. They usually bust out together in the form of verbal tirades (one riff on female "bonobos" is just magnificentally funny) Writer/director Paul Weitz, in easily his best movie since About a Boy (2002), has handed Tomlin quite the gift. It's her greatest role since Nashville (1975) which led to her sole Oscar nomination, and she seems to know it.
Not that it's a one-woman show.
Enter Sage (Julia Garner), Elle's granddaughter who is a girl in trouble (it's a temporary thing). She’s completely broke and has an appointment for an abortion late that same day. Elle is also flat broke -- in a funny aside we realize she’s chopped up all her credit cards and made them into wind chimes. If it weren’t for Lily’s expert performance, which makes the eccentric and sometimes poorly considered impulsiveness of this old warrior feminist wholly plausible, this might come across as sloppy movie-movie logic, a mere excuse to have a plot on which to hang the jokes and character arcs. Thus begins what amounts to a road trip film without much in the way of “road”. Lily & Sage jump in an old car but they’re basically just driving around short distances to visit old “friends” and acquaintances in the movie's chapter like structure to try to collect the money for the procedure. From there we get a parade of one scene cameos from the likes of Laverne Cox, Elizabeth Peña (the first of a few posthumous releases. RIP), Sam Elliott (wonderfully resonant as a charming man from Elle's long-ago past), and more. Last but absolutely not least is over-achieving Marcia Gay Harden as Judy, Elle's estranged daughter and Sage's mother. She’s a total battle-axe asshole who can’t deal with anyone else’s stupidity; Like mother, like daughter. Her line reading about condoms may be the funniest thing in the whole movie.
Lily & Paul at Sundance. Photo via Getty Images
Grandma can feel slight at time, but one gets the sense that Elle herself would be very pleased that it doesn't make much of a fuss about itself, wrapping up at a tight 78 minutes. As it turns out its bare bones single thread plot is just a line on which to hang great jokes, smart observations, progressive politics, and a couple of character arcs. But, if slight, this American comedy still feels like a life-saving gulp of ice cold water in the desert. It's not just that it's so female-centric in a movie culture that's alpha male. It's that it's genuinely funny, totally smart, and generous. Best of all it gives us the chance to watch Lily Tomlin, an American institution, showcased in a way we haven't seen in decades. Happy 75th* Lily Tomlin. What an anniversary gift.
Grade: A- ?
*Lily turned 75 this past September. Will she get an Oscar nomination for her 76th this year? Let's start the FYC right now.