Moving On

Stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in a wry black comedy/drama about secrets and revenge.

Fonda arrives in California for the funeral of an old college friend and sees the dead woman's husband which brings on bad memories of something (but we don't know what). Tomlin lives in a home and attends the same funeral and also has a bad reaction to seeing the husband (Malcolm McDowell). While Tomlin and Fonda renew their old friendship, the secrets start to emerge, and after Tomlin blurts out a big one at the wake it becomes obvious that they have a common enemy in McDowell.

While not laugh-out-loud funny, it's an amusing film and the chemistry between the stars is great. Richard Roundtree also appears as another old friend with a secret.

Ultimately, the film is about old wrongs, lost opportunities, and maybe even a little forgiveness before it's too late.

As an 80 year old living in a retirement community and looking atvthe edge of the end of my life this film had a lot of interesting and poignant plot points. Early love among college roommates that lasts a life time, a tragic incident that affects one for a lifetime and an unsettled grievance much more important to one party than another. Both lily Tomlin and Jane Fond were terrific and although there are comic moments, this is a serious film, talking about serious issues. There are several unusual twists that reflect current issues, and that lead to a surprise ending which I found quite satisfying. And although recently, Jane Fonda has been a purely comedic actor, this role has some very realistic, dramatic moments that support her as a true and believable, dramatic performer.

It was a decent film. Almost like if Grace & Frankie had made a film themselves. It's not that great or groundbreaking on the drama side of things, but the comedy aspect of this dramedy is the silverlining of the film. Lily Tomlin shines and is easily the best part of the entire thing. Jane Fonda is servicable but, again, nothing groundbreaking or exciting from her. I liked the inclusion of Malcolm McDowell, he can be a welcome surprise sometimes and that is how I felt about him in this. The film did have some strange plotlines that felt out of place for the film and made the film drag in places. That's even with it's short 85 minute runtime, which still felt a bit long for this particular story. It was almost like the writers wrote this as an episode of a tv series and decided to expand it in a way that feels unnecessary. Overall, if you're a fan of the pair, you will at least find a bit of enjoyment. Fonda and Tomlin have a certain chemistry with each other and know how to play off each other very well.

3 murder attempts out of 5.

It's hard to believe it's been 63 years since Jane Fonda's big screen debut in "Tall Story", and her longevity has as much to do with her commitment to the characters she's played as it does to her innate talent in inhabiting them. Looking better here than in her other recent films like "80 for Brady" and "Book Club", she plays Claire, an eightysomething Ohio woman who flies to California to attend the funeral of one of her closest friends Joyce. Once at the wake, she confronts Joyce's widower Howard and asserts she will kill him that weekend for committing an unspeakable act a half-century earlier. The plot turns on this revelation into a prickly combination of melodrama and black comedy as Claire pairs with her long estranged friend Evelyn, a jaded lesbian cellist who fluctuates between supporting and rejecting Claire's monomaniacal mission. With Lily Tomlin in free-wheeling mode as Evelyn, they definitely have a lot of "Grace & Frankie"-type banter, but it resonates more here because both have repressed their feelings of deep-seeded resentment about how their lives had evolved. Richard Roundtree makes a welcome return as Claire's long-ago divorced first husband, and Malcolm McDowell makes Howard a venal character worthy of Claire's wrath. It doesn't all work, but it's good to see Tomlin and especially Fonda do such strong work thanks to Paul Weitz's dexterous direction and clever screenplay.

This film is done a huge disservice by being slotted into the "comedy" genre, but I'm disappointed to see people on this site rating it as though that miscategorization were a flaw of the film itself. It should be judged on its merits, as a realistic film with a lot of dramatic, painful moments amid the more humorous ones. Painful themes of homophobia, misogyny, and sexual violence are explored, but it never gets overly didactic-everything is grounded in storytelling, and the dark is offset by the light. If you want a zany screwball comedy, go elsewhere. But if you would like a really resonant film about female friendship, strength, and resilience that also happens to have some very funny moments, please treat yourself to this gem of a movie.