La más pequeña del mundo

Veteran comedic actress Lily Tomlin really gets to show off her chops here by playing no less than three roles. The principal role is that of Pat Kramer, a suburban wife & mom who mysteriously starts shrinking one day due to overexposure to an abundance of chemicals. In short order, she becomes the talk of the town, even going on the Mike Douglas show. She also comes to be exploited by evil scientists who are bent on world domination. Charles Grodin is cast as the harried husband struggling to accept his wifes' diminishing size as a fact of life; Ned Beatty is Grodins' sleazy boss.

Partly a spoof of the classic Richard Matheson story "The Incredible Shrinking Man", this wacky 1980s fantasy functions mainly as a satire of rampant consumerism. As such, it's far from being subtle, and is a little hard to stick with at first due to it being so chaotic. But Tomlin, never more appealing, is the glue to hold it all together. She's terrific; her other roles are neighborhood busybody Judith Beasley and her classic telephone operator character. Grodin is in fine form, and Beatty is a hoot. The villains are played by the likes of Henry Gibson, Elizabeth Wilson, and John Glover, and they're all good. Shelby Balik and Justin Dana are cute as Pats' kids. But the man who deserves a special shout-out is makeup effects ace and multiple Oscar winner Rick Baker, who hilariously, endearingly plays a gorilla named Sidney.

Written by Jane Wagner, and directed by Joel Schumacher (his feature filmmaking debut), this was admittedly never quite as funny as this viewer would have liked, but it was still hard to dislike. It does work towards a priceless, farcical finale. The special effects are quite amusing throughout, and those color schemes in Pats' house are offbeat, to put it one way.

Reasonably entertaining, overall.

Six out of 10.

This is one of Lily Tomlin's best movies. It's kind of corny, but it's supposed to be. Did anyone notice the bright colors, that satire the 70's, like the lime green? It's charming and amusing, and as a kid, I guess when Pat disappeared it was a little scary, but I knew she would be OK, because she was the star of the movie. It was not that scary, I've seen a lot worse. Most of all, it's very entertaining, and not the least bit tedious if you have a sense of humor and a good imagination. When you watch a movie like this, you have to suspend your disbelief and let your inner child out. This is one of my favorite comedies. Lily is great!

12 and under cinema.

I saw this in the theater when I was 11, liked it, and filed the memory of it under "good movie" in my mental cache. All of it's socio-political subtext --endless stabs at Madison Avenue, mass marketing and gross consumerism: Pat is a pimped-out product whore in the merciless clutches of her scAmway-pushing neighbor, and it eventually begins eating away at her, quite literally-- these bits of 'wink-wink' adult humor sailed right over my Bazooka gum-chomping, 11 year-old head.

The fun in "Incredible Shrinking Woman" was the ignorance to the script's so-called message. What tickled us kiddies in the audience was the sight of a pocket-sized Lily Tomlin sporting plastic Barbie sneakers, bedding down at night on a cot in the Barbie Dream House, and cruising down the hallway carpet in an out-of-control Barbie Dream Car. And when the 10-inch version of Pat attempts to perform her daily chores, such as washing the dishes...hee hee... fun stuff if you're a kid.

This flick resurfaced on cable recently, I was reminded that most of what we liked as 11 year olds is pretty cringe-worthy to us as adults. But I went ahead and watched it anyway because it has 3 things working for it:

-Lily Tomlin

-the nostalgia factor

-& that irritatingly catchy "What would we do without Galaxy Glue?" tune

Incredible Shrinking Woman, The (1981)

** (out of 4)

Semi-spoof of The Incredible Shrinking Man has Lily Tomlin playing a housewife who tests several of her husband's (Charles Grodin) household products and soon finds herself shrinking. This was Joel Schumacher's directorial debut and he handles the material fairly well but the problem is that the material isn't that great to start with. The film tries to be very smart and hip when it comes to commercialism but it forgets to add very many laughs. There are several cute scenes that earn a smile but nothing beyond that. Grodin is wasted in his role as the father and Ned Beatty doesn't add too much either. The highlight is certainly Tomlin in her three roles.

Granted, when I last watched this movie, I was probably no more than 10 years old, but it has stuck with me and I would love to see it again! Though others may think the graphics and effects were lame, I look at it this way: it was the 80's...all movies that have effects and such look lame now that we've gone digital and become more technologically advanced. To me, the premise and the antics are what carries this movie in a way that it's a must have in any comedy fan's video library. The physical comedy that stems from Lily Tomlin's vertically challenging situation is pure fun. C'mon, how could the antics from shrinking at a rapid pace NOT be funny?!?!? Now, just have to find it so my daughters can share in the experience...