Moving On

How was I watching this for the first time today without even realizing it was Lily Tomlin's birthday until I went to Twitter and saw her trending?! It's true! I'll never understand how this stuff happens, but Lily must have sent me a telepathic signal telling me to watch this in honor of her special day. Thanks, Lily!

I really like, maybe even love, this movie! Even though it's very serious in parts, it manages to take some of the most serious subjects, and one of the darkest plans a person could have, and turns it into something pleasant to watch for the most part! So in that way, this movie really is a wonder. Jane Fonda was great, but Lily - I loved her character! I mean I really loved her character!

The only real downside to this movie is that I couldn't stop seeing them as Grace and Frankie throughout. But other than that, this is one of the best buddy movies of recent times. A new fave. And if you can believe it, even though it's a movie about a woman planning to kill a man for his wrongdoing in the past, there's a lot of heart to this film - a lot of sweetness and touching moments.

This is a movie that I would say is not for everyone, but those that it is for, will appreciate it a lot!

Happy birthday, Lily! Thank you for all the great entertainment!

It's hard to believe it's been 63 years since Jane Fonda's big screen debut in "Tall Story", and her longevity has as much to do with her commitment to the characters she's played as it does to her innate talent in inhabiting them. Looking better here than in her other recent films like "80 for Brady" and "Book Club", she plays Claire, an eightysomething Ohio woman who flies to California to attend the funeral of one of her closest friends Joyce. Once at the wake, she confronts Joyce's widower Howard and asserts she will kill him that weekend for committing an unspeakable act a half-century earlier. The plot turns on this revelation into a prickly combination of melodrama and black comedy as Claire pairs with her long estranged friend Evelyn, a jaded lesbian cellist who fluctuates between supporting and rejecting Claire's monomaniacal mission. With Lily Tomlin in free-wheeling mode as Evelyn, they definitely have a lot of "Grace & Frankie"-type banter, but it resonates more here because both have repressed their feelings of deep-seeded resentment about how their lives had evolved. Richard Roundtree makes a welcome return as Claire's long-ago divorced first husband, and Malcolm McDowell makes Howard a venal character worthy of Claire's wrath. It doesn't all work, but it's good to see Tomlin and especially Fonda do such strong work thanks to Paul Weitz's dexterous direction and clever screenplay.

This is a terrific little black comedy that somehow flew under the radar. It's very slight - I like to call movies like this an appetizer - but what it does, it does very well. Black comedy is very tough to pull off, but this film does a splendid job of maintaining its bite while still allowing moments of emotion and humanity that never feel manipulative. It is not a politically correct movie, and many will balk at the origins of its humor, but that's what I personally appreciated about it. Both Fonda and Tomlin are great, and they've obviously honed their chemistry to an art form after their decades working together. One could rightfully call them the Lemmon & Matthau of today's cinema. They are a joy to watch here, together and apart, and Fonda is particularly radiant. There is also a fantastic, beautifully understated performance by Richard Roundtree as Fonda's ex-husband that exudes charm and elegance. This film succeeds in melding comedy and drama where many other, bigger movies have failed. Credit director and co-writer Weitz, who also directed Tomlin in one of her best performances in GRANDMA as well as the fantastic Hugh Grant film ABOUT A BOY. I encourage you to check this one out if you have the opportunity. It's a definite hidden treasure.

It was a decent film. Almost like if Grace & Frankie had made a film themselves. It's not that great or groundbreaking on the drama side of things, but the comedy aspect of this dramedy is the silverlining of the film. Lily Tomlin shines and is easily the best part of the entire thing. Jane Fonda is servicable but, again, nothing groundbreaking or exciting from her. I liked the inclusion of Malcolm McDowell, he can be a welcome surprise sometimes and that is how I felt about him in this. The film did have some strange plotlines that felt out of place for the film and made the film drag in places. That's even with it's short 85 minute runtime, which still felt a bit long for this particular story. It was almost like the writers wrote this as an episode of a tv series and decided to expand it in a way that feels unnecessary. Overall, if you're a fan of the pair, you will at least find a bit of enjoyment. Fonda and Tomlin have a certain chemistry with each other and know how to play off each other very well.

3 murder attempts out of 5.

Stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in a wry black comedy/drama about secrets and revenge.

Fonda arrives in California for the funeral of an old college friend and sees the dead woman's husband which brings on bad memories of something (but we don't know what). Tomlin lives in a home and attends the same funeral and also has a bad reaction to seeing the husband (Malcolm McDowell). While Tomlin and Fonda renew their old friendship, the secrets start to emerge, and after Tomlin blurts out a big one at the wake it becomes obvious that they have a common enemy in McDowell.

While not laugh-out-loud funny, it's an amusing film and the chemistry between the stars is great. Richard Roundtree also appears as another old friend with a secret.

Ultimately, the film is about old wrongs, lost opportunities, and maybe even a little forgiveness before it's too late.