The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)

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Lily Tomlin stars in this gender-bent retelling of Richard Matheson’s short story. Tomlin plays Pat Kramer, who after being exposed to a combination of myriad household chemicals, begins to physically shrink. As she becomes a reluctant worldwide celebrity and her family tries to adjust to her ever-changing size, an evil corporation plans to kidnap her and use her ailment as a weapon of warfare.

I’m a Tomlin fan enough to watch anything she does, but I’m not sure Matheson’s short story is ripe for a comedic spin. Despite Tomlin’s charm and humor and a cartoonish production design, I found myself taking the story more seriously that was perhaps intended. Scenes in which Tomlin’s two young children ask her if she’s going to shrink until she disappears are hard to make funny. And there’s another scene where Tomlin falls into a garbage disposal that is flat-out frightening. Co-writer Jane Wagner (Tomlin’s lifelong collaborator and partner) tries to throw in a little social commentary about women’s rights and equality, but it doesn’t succeed in elevating the material.

While it’s not a laugh riot, The Incredible Shrinking Woman gets more entertaining as it goes. The last act takes place in the greedy corporation’s science department, where a gorilla (played by makeup legend Rick Baker) helps her escape and expose the truth about her condition. The supporting cast, including Charles Grodin, John Glover, and Ned Beatty, can’t compete with Baker’s scene-stealing performance. Directed by Joel Schumacher.