After seven seasons together, effortlessly calling the one-liners Grace and Frankie , Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are ready to bring their well-honed comic chemistry to a larger canvas like Paul Weitz’s new feature provides Canvas, Moving On.
Unfortunately, they only work to a large extent It distracts from basic tonal issues that never convincingly dovetail with the film’s dark theme. Ignoring a mildly generic title, it sounds like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthew might be in “s, the revenge-oriented satire certainly looks like something from Weitz, from a filmmaker who doesn’t shy away from blending social relevance with humor, as About a Boy (co-directed with his brother Chris, in Good Company and Father .
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Bottom Line A tough sell for a revenge comedy.
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Party speech)25 Cast: Jane Fonda, Malcolm McDowell, Lily Tomlin, Richard Roundtree, Sarah Burns 25 director: Paul Weitz25 Screenwriter: Paul Weitz 2015 1 hour25 minute
On the surface, the setting – a pair of old friends reunited, permanently (eg, fatally) ) with a mutual friend’s recently widowed bullying husband – can’t help but have some undeniable 9 to 5 charm. But the impetus for this drastic action is finally revealed later in the movie , it fell with such a great shock, So much so that it effectively halted proceedings so much that the movie could never convincingly regain its comedic foundations.
Turns out, while it’s two leads that please audiences, it can be a challenge for an indie game, getting to TIFF for distribution, finding a proper home — — especially as its target demographic is more resistant to the idea of leaving the comfort of streaming devices and venturing back into theaters.
Hiding snow-white hair behind a pair of large mouse-like glasses, Fonda’s Claire doesn’t look like a man with a vendetta. But when she shows up at a dear friend’s funeral, she wastes little time greeting the deceased’s husband (Malcolm McDowell) with a grim death sentence, “Howard, I’m going to kill you!”
The exact reason for her intentions will not be fully shared with the audience until much later. But her old friend Evvie clearly knows this (Tomlin, who can upgrade a random one-off line like everyone else), and he’s more than willing to help Claire buy the guns she needs for her mission.
Evvie is a musician with no filters in her life, but she doesn’t fully confess her personal situation: she has given up her home and moved into an auxiliary Living Facilities. But she did manage to snag Walter’s eulogy, declaring herself the lesbian lover of his late wife.
Amid all the daring, Claire manages to reconnect with ex-husband, Ralph (the suave Richard Roundtree in a lovely performance) And their subsequent new romance adds a tender centerpiece to the film. But while one would be more than happy to spend more time with the two of them, Claire still has unfinished business with the unrepentant Walter. When the gravity of his crime is finally revealed, its sheer weight feels out of place with the dislocated black comedy before and after the dramatic showdown.
While Tomlin (Witz wrote for him 2015’s Grandma ) and Fonda are perfectly capable of taking their characters in any direction they need, moving on ultimately bringing the cast – and the audience – into an awkward stalemate.
25 Full Credits 25
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations) 2015 Production Companies: Depth of Field, Spotlight, Boies Schiller Entertainment CAST: Jane Fonda, Malcolm McDowell, Lily Tomlin, Richard Roundtree, Sarah Burns Director: Paul Weitz2015
Screenwriter: Paul Weitz25 Producers: Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz, Stephanie Meurer, Chris Parker, Dylan Sellers 70Executive Producers: Zach Schiller, David Boyce, Tyler Zakaria, Dan Balgoyan, Britta Rowans
Director of Photography: Tobias Datum
Production Designer: Michael Wetstone
Costume designer: Molly Grundman-Gebrosi Edit: Hilda Rasula 2015 Music: Amanda Jones 25 1 hour25 Minutes 25 THR Communication
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