[8]

Writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie) creates a compelling star vehicle for Lily Tomlin with Grandma. Tomlin plays an irascible widower, who flits from girlfriend to girlfriend trying to fill the void left by her one true love that passed away years earlier. One day, her granddaughter comes to her for help. She’s pregnant and wants to have an abortion, but needs help paying for it. Tomlin is inbetween paychecks so the two hit the road and make a series of stops trying to raise the dough. They see the father (who gets assaulted by Tomlin with a hockey stick before things are through), old friends who owe money, and the one heterosexual love of Tomlin’s life (played very well by Sam Elliott). Unfortunately, the money just doesn’t add up and the two end up having to see the one person they’ve both been trying to avoid — Tomlin’s daughter, the young girl’s mother (Marcia Gay Harden).

Grandma involves issues like abortion and same-sex familyhood, but they are purely back drop to a story about three generations of women trying to connect with one another over something that matters to them all. It’s a sweet and moving film anchored by a terrific performance from Lily Tomlin (who we just don’t see enough of, if you ask me).

With Julia Garner and Judy Greer.