Grandma (2015)

A teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy seeks help from her acerbic grandmother, a woman who is long estranged from her daughter.

Director:

Paul Weitz

Writer:

Paul Weitz

Stars:

Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Lily Tomlin	...	Elle Reid
Julia Garner	...	Sage
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Judy
Judy Greer	...	Olivia
Laverne Cox	...	Deathy
Elizabeth Peña	...	Carla
Nat Wolff	...	Cam
Sarah Burns
John Cho	...	Chau
Sam Elliott	...	Karl
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mo Aboul-Zelof	...	Ian
Colleen Camp	...	Customer in Hallenbeck's General Store
Skya Chanadet	...	Elle's Young Neighbor
Frank Collison	...	Mike
Meg Crosbie	...	Protester's Child

Storyline

Lily Tomlin stars as Elle who 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.

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Plot Keywords:

abortion | 18 year old | suffering | pain | death of partner | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 September 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Baka

Filming Locations:

Cahuenga General Store - 5510 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$115,540 (USA) (21 August 2015)

Gross:

$6,944,502 (USA) (8 January 2016)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Depth of Field, 1821 Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car that Elle (Lily Tomlin) and Sage (Julia Garner) drive in for much of the movie is a 1955 Dodge Royal that is actually owned by Lily Tomlin. Tomlin told USA Today that she bought it in 1975 for $1,500. She said, "It's not a prize car. It's not a car that people yearn for. But it has a nice look to it. . . . The car is almost a character in the movie. I knew I kept that car for a reason."

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Goofs

At one point, as Elle and Sage are walking away from Olivia, Sage calls her "Vi," the name of Elle's dead partner.

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Quotes

Elle Reid: I like being old, young people are stupid.

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Connections

Referenced in The Graham Norton Show: Chris Hemsworth/Ron Howard/Lily Tomlin/Kevin Bridges/Blake/Shirley Bassey (2015)

User Reviews

Having an Actor Yell a Line Doesn't Make it Funnier

Wait for cable. This Paul Weitz film has had some mixed, but mostly positive reviews, and we gave it a chance based on the cast line-up: Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden, Sam Elliott. As it turns out, the best, most persuasive performance comes from pale-as-paper Julia Garner, who plays Tomlin's 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage. Her role mostly requires looking on in dismay as the "grown-ups" whom she hopes will help her rant viciously at each other and dredge up decades-old animosities. By staying out of it, she is revealed as Sage the wise, not Sage the turkey-and-dressing ingredient. People vary sharply in what they find funny. Alas, I don't find a firehose delivery of insults and putdowns more than boring. Tomlin's character, poet Elle Reid, is unnaturally prickly and, faced with the pregnancy of her high school student granddaughter, she's not even sympathetic—or discreet. "She's already pregnant," she announces to a young man who glances Sage's way. The movie's plot revolves around Elle and Sage's attempts to scare up $600 for an abortion, scheduled for 5:30 pm the day the movie takes place. This is not a gleeful situation, either. I'm a fan of Tomlin's acting, but laudatory reviews to the contrary, she doesn't seem really engaged with this highly predictable material. The ill-conceived (you should pardon the expression) and flimsy device of the appointment deadline puts manic urgency into the pair's approaches to a succession of unlikely loan prospects. Tomlin's interaction with the loser boyfriend is unbelievable in every particular, and nothing written for Tomlin's character suggests she has a poetic bone in her body or the necessary mental discipline and insight for that craft.