Grandma

Consider the following situations and if you can distinguish between aggressive behaviour and assertive dignity. Situation 1: you go to your favorite cafe, to enjoy a well deserved latte. You want to enjoy some stress-free time, either alone or in company, but there is an elderly, loud woman discussing private matters with her companion at the top of her lungs. You don't care about her life story and are relieved when an employee asks the woman to leave. However, she makes a scene and drip her coffee all over the floor before exiting. Would you consider that woman well-adjusted, assertive and polite or angry, peevish, maladjusted, annoyingly rude and possibly a bully? Situation 2: you get into serious trouble and need $500. You ask many people for a loan, without success. Finally somebody lends you the money. You get your issue fixed, then meet your friend and the first thing you say is "You'd be a nice person if you weren't such an ass***". Whatever happened to being grateful? Should't you apologise for being as stupid as ending up in serious trouble, without any way out, except the money you borrowed? In this pathetic movie we're supposed to root for the two above mentioned characters: an elderly, angry, arrogant, pushy woman who in normal circumstances would be considered a bully and her silly, undignified, equally arrogant granddaughter. Together they own nothing and can resort only to begging to get some cash. Yet, they show no humility or gratitude and parade around as if in possession of the ultimate truth: spitting to the face of the whole world at large. Despicable characters and silly movie that glorify them.

Screenwriter Paul Weitz best known for his television show About a Boy has written a realistic, feisty portrayal of an aging woman who's called to help her granddaughter. His focus is in giving the extraordinary Lily Tomlin some of the best lines she's uttered on screen as the Grandma. This is not your Hallmark version of what many of us grew up with. If I had a Grandma like Tomlin life would have been different and probably closer to heaven. I would have learned to find my backbone sooner than later. There's real beauty in a strong, smart woman. M. Gay Harden, J. Warner, J.Greer and S. Elliot all provide excellent support as people who are equally expressive in their humanity.

Grandma (2015): Dir: Paul Weitz / Cast: Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, Sam Elliott: Side Splitting hilarity within a film where age meets the stubborn nature of the lead here. Lily Tomlin gives a gritty hilarious performance full of sarcasm. She plays Elle Reid who ends a relationship with a younger woman. Afterwards her granddaughter Sage lands on her doorstep requesting financial help in getting an abortion. Elle is broke as well as indicated by the wind chime made up of her credit card. Sage refuses to inform her strict domineering mother so Elle decides to scout about to scare up some cash. Directed by Paul Weitz in perhaps his greatest achievement. He also made American Pie and In Good Company. Tomlin is fantastic delivering one of her greatest performances. As Elle she shuts out everyone with her attitude until her granddaughter presents an opportunity to open communication. She bares scars yet also inflicts them. Julia Garner brings on naive innocence as Sage whose boyfriend neglects to assist financially for the abortion until Elle crotches him with his own hockey stick. Marcia Gay Harden plays Sage's mother and her dominance intimidates her but can only be traced to Elle's reluctance to tear down barriers. Judy Greer plays Elle's lover Olivia who struggles to understand Elle's tough exterior. Sam Elliott plays an ex flame whom Elle approaches for money and he relents until he discovers what it is for. This is a great comedy about growing older yet maintaining a defence against time and who better to play this out than the awesome comedic timing of Tomlin. Score: 10 / 10

Title: Grandma Year: 2015 Country: USA Language: English Genre: Comedy, Drama Director/Writer: Paul Weitz Music: Joel P. West Cinematography: Tobias Datum Cast: Lily Tomlin Julia Garner Judy Greer Marcia Gay Harden Sam Elliott Laverne Cox Nat Wolff Elizabeth Peña Lauren Tom Judy Geeson Frank Collison John Cho Colleen Camp Mo Aboul-Zelof Sarah Burns Carlos Miranda Rating: 7.4/10 The 10th feature film of Paul Weitz, the USA director who has brought us American PIE (1999), is a Lily Tomlin tailor-made drama-comedy, which shot only in 19 days in a puny budget. It stars Tomlin as the titular grandma Elle, a lesbian who has lost her long-time companion about one and a half year ago, the movie depicts her life in one particular day, divided over 6 chapters, starts with an intense break-up with her much younger current girlfriend Olivia (Greer). Then her granddaughter Sage (Garner) arrives uninvited, because she is pregnant and needs money for an abortion due in the afternoon, and she is too afraid to tell her mother Judy (Harden) about it, so Elle becomes her only hope. Weitz goes out a limb here to configure Elle, a passé poet who has her own house and leads an independent life, as a woman who doesn't have any money, even several hundreds bucks at hand, or in her account to provide succour for the emergency, only to set in motion the grandma-granddaughter money-questing road trip. Various sorts Elle and Sage visit, firstly Elle teaches a hard lesson to Sage's scumbag boyfriend Cam, who gets her pregnant and shuns the responsibility to snag the money. Driving an archaic 1955 Dodge Royal, Elle brings Sage to her trans-friend, a tattooist Deathy (Cox), who owes her money but is broke too; try to sell her first-edition books to Carla (the late Elizabeth Peña, R.I.P.), who owns the café where Olivia works; ask help from her ex-husband Karl (Elliott), whom she jilted and haven't met for over four decades, and clearly he still holds the grudge to her in spite of being all flirty, especially when he knows what the money is for, Sam Elliott is incredibly poignant in his limited screen time when shifting from an old flame's chat-up to a sudden and overpowering outburst of wrath. Finally, Judy is their last resort, three women of three generations (all independent of man in their lives, Sage's father is an anonymous sperm donor), united by this incident, and divulge their true feelings, maybe their problems cannot be solved, at least, it is a substantial step to start. Like Sage, we all watch Elle's back-stories unfold through this not so long journey, and begin to know this old lady bit by bit, her feminist stance, misanthropic characteristic (quote Sage), atheist belief, a troubled marriage before going full lesbian, having a baby from a one-night-stand, enjoying a happy life with her partner Vi until the latter's departure, attracting to Olivia but deterred by their huge age difference. It is a role Tomlin has been waiting for all these decades, a sharp-tongued, avant-garde spitfire, but at the same time, a sensitive soul overflowing with passion, fear and sense of justice, it is a tremendously heart-warming performance, she is the grandma we all wish to have. Judy Greer and Marcia Gay Harden are great as we expect, but I also want to name-check Julia Garner for her indelible presence as Sage, a keen observer, a disgruntled teenager, and a force of uncompromising grit, so something does run through the family lineage. Running only at 79 minutes, the movie leaves us unsatisfied although the narrative finishes with a beautiful arch of consummation, it is an indie gem one shouldn't miss among zillions of options.

Lily Tomlin is superb here starring as the acerbic Elle, a known poet and author, who's having trouble writing again after her same-sex partner, of some 38 years, passed away. One day, Elle gets a surprise visit from her granddaughter Sage, who tells Elle that she's pregnant and needs over $600 for a scheduled abortion later that day. Julia Garner is also excellent in her portrayal of Sage. Thus the two women will begin an odyssey around town in an attempt to raise the money. At times, things will get crude and rude, and there are some rough spots, but there's also some good humor and I thought it all culminated in an uplifting ending. Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, and Sam Elliott also add well to the mix in supporting roles. Additionally, the film is well written and directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy). All in all, this indie at only 1 hr. and 18 min. in length, led by Tomlin and Garner, with strong support from the cast, kept me absorbed and interested in how it would all play out.

It's just about the right time to say Lily could walk with the best actress award from many organizations. She has never commanded the screen with this much power and charisma. Her performance is touching,funny, and never boring. She takes on the role in such a way you would think the role was written specifically for her. One can't imagine anyone ever playing this character. Tomlin is an older grandma who happens to be a lesbian. She's retired, lonely, and doesn't have the best relationship with her daughter. It seems like she has always found a way to irritate those who get too close to her. One morning her granddaughter shows up and needs some assistance. She's pregnant and needs money for an abortion. Since grandma believes she doesn't have much to do with her relatives, she has disposed of her credit cards, has settled into a routine where there's no room for any disturbances. Suddenly she begins a quest to find a way to help the teen without letting mom know. So, we follow her as she visits old friends, acquaintances, and former lovers. Everyone knows there will be complications, sad moments, funny moments, and some unexpected surprises, one of them being a meeting with a male lover she had 30 years ago. Tomlin never misses a mark, delivering lines with plenty of acidity, reaching hesitantly to those she cares about, and rarely being surprised by human nature. There are times when things might seem a bit complicated or confusing to her. It's a matter of aging or facing the truth, but she conquers it all, and we reach a satisfying conclusion because life has never been simple.

Lily Tomlin, that's the first best thing about this movie! (Yes, I'm a fan of Tomlin) The plot is simple, Elle Reid (Tomlin) an elderly lesbian uninspired writer, who in her youth was very active in the 1960's women's liberation movement, must face life alone due to the death of her companion of 38 years. Into her life walks Sage, her granddaughter, who is young, blonde, pregnant, has a worthless boyfriend and is seeking money for an abortion. This situation puts these two on the road seeking the cash because Elle does not have it. In this quest for cash Director/writer: Paul Weitz brings to light the current social decay of how society now thinks of women and their rights to their own body. Elle, once an active participant in fighting for womens equality discovers first hand how the American social attitude is regressing in its regard for issues that affect women. But as a dedicated feminist Elle fights on because she's smart and has experienced a woman's life! I noticed other reviewer's complained about Elle's coarse attitude. But that is Elle! She's a fighter for what's right and doesn't let others walk over her because she's just a woman. To unerringly walk over women is the current Christian socio-political attitude that frustrates Elle so much. And then her granddaughter represents everything Elle hated in how society views women but it's Elle's granddaughter and she's ready to fight for her! Tomlin offers a luminous role to all!

This is a small movie, not quite even 75 minutes long. All the characters are angry and upset the whole time. It really isn't entertaining, as far as we are concerned. Had we known more of what it was about we would not have watched it. Lily Tomlin is Elle, a 70-something lesbian whose partner had died fairly recently. When she was young, before she acknowledged her lesbianism she got pregnant, married a guy, and had a daughter. The daughter in turn had a daughter, Elle's granddaughter. That girl, 20-ish Julia Garner as Sage, is the granddaughter, a mixed up high school student. She has come to Elle this day because she needs $630 for an abortion. It is morning and she has an appointment for 5:45PM. So most of the movie is Elle and Sage interacting with various people, the boyfriend, the mother, and old friend, all to try to raise the money because Sage is broke and Elle decided to pay off all her debts and cut up her credit cards and she too is broke. The story isn't particular interesting, and the script isn't particularly well written. Basically it is a bit more than an hour of Lily Tomlin's antics and for someone who likes that then it is worthwhile. My wife and I didn't find it particularly worthwhile. When it was over we were like "So what? These are miserable people."

"I'm not trying to ruin your life. I'm not perfect, we're not all perfect." Elle (Tomlin) is bitter and stubborn. When she gets into a fight with her girlfriend and they break up she acts tough. When her granddaughter Sage (Garner) asking for her help Elle takes her under her wing and does everything she can to help her out. What Elle finds is that this experience helps her more than she expected. This is a movie I was not sure what to expect. The few Lily Tomlin movies I have seen have been Big Business and 9 to 5, not really my favorites. I was totally shocked by her in this movie, in a good way. Lily Tomlin is hilarious in this and plays a role you have never seen her in before. Picture Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa as portrayed by Lily Tomlin. The stuff she says is pretty offensive and so out of the blue that you can't help but laugh. The movie does have a very good message and is very much worth seeing but the real reason to check this out is for Lily Tomlin. Overall, smartly written with a version of Lily Tomlin you have never seen. I give this a B+.

(Rating: ☆☆☆ out of 4) This film is recommended. In brief: A road trip that gains a moviegoer's admiration per mile. GRADE: B Perhaps the movie's tag-line should have read: "Abortion can bring a family closer together." The pro-lifers may not like the film's underlying message, but any serious moviegoer will certainly admire Paul Weitz's low-budget independent film, Grandma. The film explores the fractured relationship between two distinct personalities and their generational gap that begins to close as they learn more life lessons from each other. Estranged from her domineering mother (Marcia Gay Harden), Sage (Julia Garner), a distraught pregnant woman seeks out her lesbian grandmother, Elle (Lily Tomlin), for help and some financial assistance. Newly separated from her lover, Olivia (Judy Greer), this title character goes on a road trip with her granddaughter. In the course of the day's events, Elle learns to examine the consequences of choices made in her own life, while giving Sage some sage advice at every detour. The film follows these two misfits as they try to raise enough funds while gaining more self-awareness per mile. We go along for the ride and develop a fondness for these characters and their dilemmas. Ms. Tomlin has played this free-spirited New Age hipster before, most recently in her Emmy- nominated performance of Netflix's comedy, Grace and Frankie. She knows this type of kooky liberal character inside out. But here, she brings a layered emotional vulnerability to her role. Toning down the comedic elements and emphasizing the dramatics, the part is a perfect blending for her own screen persona in the film's story of a woman unable to fully enjoy her life. Yes, there is a lot of turmoil and dysfunction in this family dynamics and some of it is laid on rather thick. Old secrets and past lies come bubbly forth as Sage and Ellie begin to connect and see each other in a different light. Writer/director Weitz has made a literate and touching screenplay filled with interesting characters and he has shrewdly cast his film with a wonderful ensemble of actors that elevate the film to a higher level of excellence. The aforementioned Ms. Tomlin is wonderful and her driving companion Ms. Garner delivers a fine, if a tad subdued, performance. Giving strong support are Ms. Harden, Ms. Greer, and in smaller but pivotal roles, Laverne Cox, the late Elizabeth Peña, and Sam Elliott as Elle's former boyfriend, Karl. Elliott is particularly strong in a tender and memorable scene between him and his ex-lover that could lead to some award nominations. The film is an engrossing character study that relies on its words rather than actions to tell its story. The plot is rather thin and its odyssey quite predictable. However, Grandma boasts top notch performances in its tale of discovery and revelation. Moviegoers should enjoy their journey every stop along the way too.