Review: Grandma

-
Women are assholes.

No, really. Every single person in this film either tells someone to stop being one, or admits they're acting like one.

Elle (Lily Tomlin) is a sharp tongued writer who has just broken up with her girlfriend of four months, Olivia. (Judy Greer) Right after that, her teenage grand daughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up unexpectedly looking for $630 to have an abortion. She's too afraid to ask her domineering mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and with Elle being temporarily broke, they go off visiting people in Elle's life trying to get the money. 

It's hard to go wrong with a cast like this. Thankfully, Grandma doesn't. Lily Tomlin should be a shoo-in in the Best Actress in a Comedy category at the Globes. She's harsh and hilarious. Julia Garner is always good at playing sweet and innocent. Sage is just that, but you can tell deep down she has the potential fire that her grandma and mother both have.

The film takes place in the span of one day. We meet the douche who impregnated Sage, who Elle promptly beats with a hockey stick. A few of her friends, and even a former lover. That's where the film stalls temporarily. Even though said lover is played by Sam Elliot, everything out of his mouth is a platitude. It threw the entire tone off. Thankfully, after that scene is when Harden appears and gets things back to where they were.

Grandma is a wonderfully sunny film with a great cast. It's a quick watch and definitely deserves to be seen.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I don't have an anger problem, I have an asshole problem. People are assholes, I get angry." - Elle (Lily Tomlin)

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 22, 2015 at 9:55 AM

    Oooh, I really meant to catch this one in theatres but guess I didn't. I feel like I'm always playing catchup. But thanks for the good review and the reminder! I love Lily Tomlin - have you seen her Netflix show, Frankie & Grace?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 22, 2015 at 10:18 AM

      I haven't! I actually hadn't even heard of it until she was nominated for an Emmy. This just came out in theaters here, maybe it will still come to you?

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2015 at 5:51 PM

    This sounds terrific. It's playing at our little downtown theater. Maybe I'll get a chance to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. VanishedfrontierSeptember 27, 2015 at 1:41 PM

    Didn't know the movie. It seems cool, I'll add it to my watchlist.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Candice FrederickSeptember 27, 2015 at 3:13 PM

    oh i didn't realize this took place all in one day. I will rent this one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 28, 2015 at 5:57 PM

      Yep, it actually takes place in the span of about 6 hours. I hope you like it.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousOctober 1, 2015 at 8:18 AM

    I can't wait to see Tomlin TEAR IT UP!!! Her reviews are pretty incredible, and the talk about an Oscar nom is starting to look like more than just talk, which would be awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 1, 2015 at 8:47 AM

      I'm not sure if she can ride this all the way to the Oscars, I guess it depends on the competition. But she's got to be getting a Globe nomination at least.

      Delete
  6. JoshOctober 5, 2015 at 1:57 AM

    Tomlin was great, but it felt like the film was trying too hard at times. B- for me.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more