Review of Grandma (2015) by Manny C — 02 Oct 2015

Lily Tomlin is an undisputed miracle worker. She's already been comedy royalty for decades, from her time on Laugh-In to 9 To 5, and she even has an Oscar nomination to her name for the classic Nashville. Why? Because she has a range and skills that cut deeper than laughs. But no actual Oscar wins. Perhaps this wonderful gem of a film will finally do it. This is Tomlin in a tour de force.

It's not that the 75-year-old Tomlin is warming hearts as a sweet old dearie fighting off illness or senility. Writer-director Paul Weitz (About a Boy) manages to play to her strengths. Tomlin is Elle Reid, a celebrated poet with a real mouth on her, and Tomlin uses the role to take on hypocrisy head on. Her longtime partner has just died and she's just dumped a new, younger version (Judy Greer). That's when Elle's teen granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up and announces she's pregnant.

The film is an absolute delight as Elle and Sage go on a no-bull search for 'a reasonably priced abortion', causing down on her luck Grandma to come across that baby daddy (a hilarious Nat Wolff), as well as Sage's mother (an excellent Marcia Gay Harden) and Karl (a terrific Sam Elliott), an old flame from Elle's past. Every encounter reveals long-buried feelings Elle can't just shrug off, and Tomlin, ever the artist, will leave you astonished and devastated.