Lily Tomlin gives a credibly ornery and cranky performance as the eponymous grouchy-lovable Grandma, and it’s a movie that creditably sticks to its ideological guns on the issue of women’s right to decide. The basic idea of the adorable, cantankerous older person who turns out to be much cooler than the younger generation of smartphone-addicted conformists is maybe a bit predictable, and you just know that this feisty oldster is going to spark up a picturesque joint. But Tomlin sells it.
She is Elle Reid, an ageing radical poet and academic who has just acrimoniously broken up with her partner Olivia (Judy Greer), and in a fit of life-simplifying she has paid off her debts and cut up her credit cards, leaving her with a pleasant feeling of being free from money cares. At this very moment, her hapless granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up, needing 600 bucks to pay for an abortion. So she and her grandma have to go on a road trip to track down all Elle’s old friends and comrades to see if anyone will stump up the cash, and a lot of old wounds get opened up. There is a very nice scene with a former lover played by Sam Elliott. A well-played movie in a minor key.
