Grandma

Name: Grandma
Genre: Comedy
Released: August 21, 2015
Duration: 79 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Elizabeth Peña, Judy Greer, Julia Garner, Laverne Cox, Lily Tomlin

2015

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Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 61 Ratings

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7.0

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 61 Ratings

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Grandma

Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 21, 2015

Starring: Elizabeth Peña, Judy Greer, Julia Garner, Laverne Cox, Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden, Nat Wolff

Summary: Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin) has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when Elle's granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing $600 bucks before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletonsElle Reid (Lily Tomlin) has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when Elle's granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing $600 bucks before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets. [Sony Pictures Classics]… Expand

Director: Paul Weitz

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 79 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

100

San Francisco Chronicle - David Lewis

Aug 26, 2015

Lily Tomlin has been one of our best comedic actresses for the past 50 years, and she’s at the height of her powers in the beautifully observed dramedy Grandma. Her performance is funny, acerbic, touching — and ultimately, exhilarating. Read full review

Portland Oregonian - Marc Mohan

Sep 18, 2015

Grandma is a movie that, for what it's worth, gets an A+ on the Bechdel test. Writer-director Paul Weitz may still be cashing residual checks for the "American Pie" movies, but this is his most heartfelt, successful effort since 2002's "About a Boy." Read full review

Austin Chronicle - Marjorie Baumgarten

Sep 9, 2015

Weitz (About a Boy) is a sharp observer, and Tomlin and the rest of the cast are so superlative that any anxiety is quickly quelled. You’re happy to follow this movie over the river and through the woods. Read full review

Rolling Stone - Peter Travers

Aug 19, 2015

Lily Tomlin works miracles. She's comedy royalty whose best films (Nashville, The Late Show, All of Me, I Heart Huckabees) always cut deeper than a smile. But no Oscar. Maybe Grandma will do the trick. It's a Tomlin tour de force. Read full review

Boston Globe - Ty Burr

Sep 3, 2015

It’s predictable in many places and acerbic in others, sentimental when you expect it and poignant when you don’t. But it stars Lily Tomlin, and that’s all you really need to know. Read full review

Variety - Scott Foundas

Jun 11, 2015

Though likely to be variously praised and pilloried as a pro-choice film, Weitz’s film is really a movie about choice in both the specific and the abstract — about the choices we make, for good and for ill, and how we come to feel about them through the prism of time. Read full review

Slant Magazine - R. Kurt Osenlund

Aug 19, 2015

Writer-director Paul Weitz's proudly boisterous star vehicle for Lily Tomlin has about as many ambitions as it does delusions. Read full review

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User Reviews

LamontRaymond

Aug 23, 2015

Quite possibly the best movie I've seen this year. What an incredibly sensitive and accurate portrayal of so many issues surrounding abortion. Sam Eliot's role is incredibly well conceived and acted. Lily Tomlin is amazing. And the writing & directing are both superb. Highly recommended.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

GreatMartin

Sep 11, 2015

“Grandma” is a movie for every woman, grandmother, mother, daughter, any man who has been involved with the aforementioned, and definitely any fan of Lily Tomlin. She has been a force of nature from her early days in “Laugh-In” from 1970-1973 to winning a Grammy for her comedy album in 1972“Grandma” is a movie for every woman, grandmother, mother, daughter, any man who has been involved with the aforementioned, and definitely any fan of Lily Tomlin. She has been a force of nature from her early days in “Laugh-In” from 1970-1973 to winning a Grammy for her comedy album in 1972 to an Oscar nomination for her film debut in 1974 in “Nashville” and winning a Tony Award in 1985 for the brilliant one woman show her partner of 42 years, Jane Wagner, wrote for her “The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe” up to and including a 2015 Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a TV comedy for “Grace and Frankie”. If there is any justice in the movie business Tomlin should have an Oscar nomination for her role in “Grandma”.

Though her role of Elle is a tour de force for Lily Tomlin she has a strong supporting cast especially Sam Elliot in a scene that is the highlight of the film. Judy Greer, her girlfriend of 4 months, “Just a footnote”, Elle tells her breaking up with her, Julia Garner as Sage , Elle’s granddaughter, Marcia Gay Harden as Elle’s daughter, and Sage’s boyfriend, Nat Wolff, who is responsible for Sage’s pregnancy which puts the story into motion. Laverne Cox as a tattoo artist friend of Elle’s, Elizabeth Pena as the owner of a small book store not to forget John Cho as the owner of a coffee shop all have what are basically cameos but each impresses as being chosen for their scenes by the director and screenwriter, Paul Weitz, who wanted the best from each actor and got it.

Is Lily Tomlin Elle or is Elle Lily Tomlin? From the public persona of the entertainer we all know, it is hard to decipher if they are separate or combined into one. We see Tomlin’s highly skilled comic talents and in her scene with Sam Elliot plus an earlier scene where she grieves for her lover of 38 years, who died a year and a half before the movie starts, we feel the emotional range she can and does show as an actress or is it Lily Tomlin, the woman we think we know?

“Grandma” is a short film, about 80 minutes including the end credits, that shows Lily Tomlin as an actress who can turn on a dime going from sarcasm to laugh out loud jokes to putting a tear in our eye with, seemingly, little effort. It touches on pregnancy, abortion, independent women, loneliness, growing/being old and what that entails, fleeting fame, how we can hurt people unknowingly, how we hurt each other mostly in short but effective scenes. One scene alone with Elle taking a shower, brushing her teeth, is more than worth the price of admission.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

whitewind

Sep 25, 2015

Lily Tomlin is terrific as the grandmother of Sage, who comes to her with a problem which she is unable to broach with her mother. "Grandma", in her own inimitable style, goes out of her way to help Sage out in the face of many trials which make up the core of the movie. Lily Tomlin is justLily Tomlin is terrific as the grandmother of Sage, who comes to her with a problem which she is unable to broach with her mother. "Grandma", in her own inimitable style, goes out of her way to help Sage out in the face of many trials which make up the core of the movie. Lily Tomlin is just wonderful in her assertive passion to help. This is a movie not to be missed.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

LeZee

Apr 14, 2016

The mother of mother, that means who cares you in two-folds.

There are many aged actors in Hollywood, since Lily Tomlin acted in it, I won't consider it a bad choice. Because she was amazing in the title role, I never doubted since I saw the first trailer and the movie delivered as muchThe mother of mother, that means who cares you in two-folds.

There are many aged actors in Hollywood, since Lily Tomlin acted in it, I won't consider it a bad choice. Because she was amazing in the title role, I never doubted since I saw the first trailer and the movie delivered as much as I expected. The rest of the cast was also fantastic. I liked the simplicity of its storytelling.

It was a short movie. I think that was an advantage for a small theme movie like this. Don't underestimate it for its small budget, the production quality was great, but you know it's packed with predictable stuffs yet very entertaining, a slightly under-appreciated movie. It was shot within the 20 days and in the era of mega films like 'Fury Road', there are audience to acknowledge for a little flick like this. Whatever your verdict going to be I say just watch it.

From the director of original 'American Pie', who had lots of ups and downs in his career, but most of them were low profile flicks, even though those had big names in the cast. This is one of his best, at least in the recent time. I know this is just a one-off movie, but I won't mind if the a couple of sequels follows from here. Because this is a wonderful concept, not just for fun, I consider it a slice of someone's real life.

7/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Sep 22, 2015

This film revolves around the title character (Lily Tomlin), an unhappy lesbian who's just broken up with her girlfriend. Almost immediately, her granddaughter shows up needing $600 to pay for an abortion. They spend the rest of the time trying to raise the cash. Tomlin is enjoyablyThis film revolves around the title character (Lily Tomlin), an unhappy lesbian who's just broken up with her girlfriend. Almost immediately, her granddaughter shows up needing $600 to pay for an abortion. They spend the rest of the time trying to raise the cash. Tomlin is enjoyably cantankerous and cruel-mouthed as she runs thru her repertoire of old friends and flames (including Sam Elliott in the most sensitive performance of his career). There are only a few outright laughs (and most of them are in the trailer), but the spunky energy of the relationships and Tomlin's undeniable force tint the film toward upbeat humor. An entertaining character study.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

FilmPhonic

Jan 5, 2016

It’s not difficult to see why some have dubbed ‘Grandma’ as the “feminist” ‘Nebraska’, both are charming and quirky Indie comedy/dramas that bridge the perspectives of different generations within dysfunctional families, and both star straight-talking elderly screen legends.

But whereasIt’s not difficult to see why some have dubbed ‘Grandma’ as the “feminist” ‘Nebraska’, both are charming and quirky Indie comedy/dramas that bridge the perspectives of different generations within dysfunctional families, and both star straight-talking elderly screen legends.

But whereas ‘Grandma’ lacks some of the Oscar-nominated artistic flair of Alexander Payne’s ‘Nebraska’, it certainly doesn’t hesitate to flesh out a distinctly “pro-choice” narrative that although relatively rare, is becoming increasingly common.

Lily Tomlin stars as a cantankerous ageing lesbian academic with a colourful but dramatic past which has left her estranged from her daughter and incapable of sustaining relationships since the death of her life partner.

‘Grandma’ sits somewhere between a road movie and a family drama and director Paul Weitz does a good job of balancing the comedy that comes from “Grandma’s” way of handling people and the pathos from the decisions that have shaped her life and the people around her.

And that’s what ‘Grandma’ is ultimately about, yes it’s a “dramedy” from a lesbian perspective, but really it’s a film about the choices in life. From the “pro-choice” stance taken regarding the central abortion theme that drives the narrative, and which some audiences may take issue with. To the decisions that Tomlin’s character unapologetically takes which shape more than just her own existence, for better or worse.

But despite a distinct 21st century story featuring a gay main character and central driving theme of abortion, ‘Grandma’ is both a familiar tale and character, which we’ve seen tackled from a variety of angles. We’re all familiar with the elderly scrooge-like character that goes on a journey which leads to self-discovery and redemption.

Despite Lily Tomlin’s strong central performance, the rest of the cast don’t quite manage to reach her heights, with the main grandma-granddaughter relationship lacking in chemistry, all within a narrative that’s too familiar and which predictably wraps things up in a bow.

The Bottom Line…
‘Grandma’ features a distinguished Lily Tomlin central performance within a funny and occasionally touching 21st Century story, but a rather familiar narrative and predictable characters, plus a lack of nuance make this an entertaining little “dramedy” rather than a modern Indie gem.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

rachelauer

Sep 27, 2015

Despite its potential, this movie was fairly disappointing. The central plot was underwhelming, as were the supporting vignettes, and the characters were predictable and bland.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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