The presence of the hysterically funny Lily Tomlin holds together this comic spoof of the 1957 sci-fi classic "The Incredible Shrinking Man", utilizing a stereotypical stay-at-home sitcom mom to be the victim of some chemically induced poison that makes her shrink away. Lily plays her extremely passive character with such gentility that you know she's fighting inside to not scream, but with the presence of Lily as her more aggressive Judith Beasley character (and a brief appearance by the hysterically obnoxious Ernestine), Tomlin gets to unleash her inner strength that would never have her staying at home baking cookies and doing her kid's laundry on a daily basis. She's married to Charles Grodin who works for the local product factory that puts out products like canned cheese in an aerosol bottle. There's more questions than answers here, especially since it is obvious that she gets a dosage of the chemical that shrinks her while in the car with her children, and especially why as she shrinks nobody thinks to fire the stereotypically lazy Spanish maid (Maria Smith) who watches her novellas while Tomlin seems to do all the chores.
If this succeeds in any ways, it is through the calm manner that Tomlin holds in her frustrations as she shrinks to the size of a dollhouse, is held captive in an underground compound, and finds support in both a friendly gorilla and the stereotypical dumb assistant who can either help her prove how this organization wants to shrink the bulk of the world or report her and save himself at the expense of civilization. It is also a commentary on the number of artificial products America became used to in order to save time for the busy housewife or career woman, and a warning of how industry can end up controlling our lives if we don't watch it. There are some very funny scenes of how Tomlin deals with her shrinking size, being attacked in her children's closet of now very large toys, especially a urinating doll that has more water pressure for her than any shower could ever hope to. At times, it seems like it is also trying to be too much of a commercial for products that helped sponsor the movie, although the scene of the babbity neighbors yelling commercial slogans at her as she drives down the cul-de-sac is very funny. The conclusion indicated that there might have been plans for a sequel, but that unfortunately never occured.
If this succeeds in any ways, it is through the calm manner that Tomlin holds in her frustrations as she shrinks to the size of a dollhouse, is held captive in an underground compound, and finds support in both a friendly gorilla and the stereotypical dumb assistant who can either help her prove how this organization wants to shrink the bulk of the world or report her and save himself at the expense of civilization. It is also a commentary on the number of artificial products America became used to in order to save time for the busy housewife or career woman, and a warning of how industry can end up controlling our lives if we don't watch it. There are some very funny scenes of how Tomlin deals with her shrinking size, being attacked in her children's closet of now very large toys, especially a urinating doll that has more water pressure for her than any shower could ever hope to. At times, it seems like it is also trying to be too much of a commercial for products that helped sponsor the movie, although the scene of the babbity neighbors yelling commercial slogans at her as she drives down the cul-de-sac is very funny. The conclusion indicated that there might have been plans for a sequel, but that unfortunately never occured.