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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tomlin helps ‘Grandma’ go beyond the sitcom

Dan Webster

Lily Tomlin is a comic treasure. She's been one since the days she starred in one of the most popular comedy television shows of all time. Following is my review of "Grandma," the movie — written and directed by Paul Weitz — which features Tomlin in one of her rare starring roles. I wrote the review for Spokane Public Radio. 

Those of us who recall the TV comedy-variety show “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” which ran on NBC from 1968 to 1973, remember our introduction to Lily Tomlin. She was famous for two of her most enduring characters: Ernestine the telephone operator and the precocious 5-and-a-half-year-old Edith Ann. And that, as Edith Ann would say, is the truth.

Tomlin went on to have a varied career: On Broadway, her 1985 one-woman show “The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” won her a Tony; on TV, her work in a variety of specials won her multiple Emmys; and in movies, she most notably earned an Oscar nomination for her role Robert Altman’s 1975 film “Nashville.”

It’s the movies, though, that have posed Tomlin the most difficulties, probably because of Hollywood’s tendency to force stars – no matter how different their talents might be – into the same kinds of mainstream roles. Just look at the 1978 film “Moment By Moment,” which featured a then-nearly-40-year-old Tomlin engaging in a love affair with John Travolta, then in his mid-20s.

Tomlin has fared far better in supporting roles where she’s typically provided comic relief. So it’s both surprising and satisfying that writer-director Paul Weitz cast Tomlin as the lead in his movie “Grandma.”

Tomlin stars as Elle, a 70-something woman who is struggling. Her female partner of 38 years has recently died, she’s just broken up with a much-younger replacement – a “footnote,” she acidly calls the woman in a cruel goodbye – she’s cut up her credit cards in a fit of pique and seems, overall, to be at an emotional crossroads.

This is the moment when her high-school-age granddaughter Sage (played by Julia Garner) comes calling in search of help. Seems Sage is pregnant, doesn’t want the baby and is looking for the $630 she needs to pay for an abortion she has scheduled for later that same afternoon. She could, of course, turn to her own mother – Elle’s daughter, the brittle over-achiever Judy (played by Marcia Gay Harden). But Sage is too afraid of what mom will say.

She thinks, strangely enough, that going to acerbic Grandma is a better option. Which, of course, it turns out to be. Because the need to help Sage forces Elle out of her doldrums, pushing her to find a way to raise the money. And she gradually gains energy, first confronting the surly teenage sperm-donor, deciding to sell her prized first-edition copies of such feminist manifestos as Betty Freidan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” and seeking help from a former male lover who, even years later, still feels the pain caused by their ancient break-up.

Some of this works. Tomlin’s scenes with the male lover (played by Sam Elliott) are among the most effective that Weitz puts on screen. And the movie is effective at dancing around the ticklish issue of abortion while never completely ignoring it. Some of what occurs, though, seems simply TV-sitcom silly.

Weitz may not end up making us like this hard-nosed “Grandma.” Some of us, though, manage to end up understanding her. And that may be all that’s needed.