“Grandma” is a modestly scaled character comedy-drama that
winds up exerting an almost shockingly strong emotional force by the end. I
walked into a screening of the film a mild skeptic, and I left nearly in tears,
and grateful for where writer-director Paul Weitz and a remarkable cast led by
Lily Tomlin took me.
Written and directed by Paul Weitz, whose well-intentioned
but spotty track record (prior films include “Admission,” “Being Flynn,” and
“About A Boy,” which for me ran a gamut from mildly enjoyable to actively
irritating) was part of what lowered my expectations, “Grandma opens with
Tomlin’s character, Elle, an aged poet with a strong feminist cult rep,