You don’t need to be a grandparent, or surrounded by grandparents (like I was Sunday afternoon), to enjoy “Grandma,” which may be one of the best indie comedies of the year. While labeled as a comedy, “Grandma” distinguishes itself for incredibly dark, serious undertones. Directed by Paul Weitz (“About a Boy” (2002), “In Good Company” (2004)), the film tells the story of teenager Sage (Julia Garner) approaching her Grandma Elle (Lily Tomlin) to help with her unplanned pregnancy. We all have Grandmas; we know they sometimes knit, make cookies, and complain about modern technology. Weitz’s comedy acknowledges pop-Grandmother culture, but proceeds to rip off its cute surface to reveal a family’s hidden, sobering reality. Sure, Weitz’s Grandma still makes tea and cookies, but is also a failed poet and troubled misanthrope. Quite effectively, the movie presents “cuteness” in order to undermine each character’s perceived normalcy. Instead of a mild curse-word followed by an “oh, grandma…,” try three or four “mother*******” followed by a screaming fight on the highway. “Grandma” refreshingly resists the urge to become another half-baked, feel-good indie, and holds nothing back in its darkly comedic portrayal of family.
Using a handheld camera and shallow depth of field, the movie immediately declares itself as indie. But, unlike the “I’m unique because I never used a tripod” indie (though I do think Weitz never uses a tripod), the handheld feeling in “Grandma” emphasizes the characters’ instability very well. None of Weitz’s characters are flawless. Yes, the film references stereotypes, like when Grandma Elle can’t read off of Sage’s smartphone, or asks about, “the ebay,” but it quickly transcends cuteness to reveal traumatic, emotional history. Each chapter serves as its own comedic short, but Weitz uses this children’s book structure to re-introduce “ghosts” of the characters’ past. Tomlin and Garner deservedly steal the show (Tomlin especially) as they learn about each other, candidly, through old friends. Granddaughter, Mom, and Grandma constantly exchange power, entertaining as the “family feud” while also revealing their quite tragic lack of familial unity.
Family dysfunction extends to individual struggles, applying equally to the family (though we don’t meet any of the men) and the male friends and boyfriends. In one scene, Elle comically brings Sage to meet one of her old boyfriends (Sam Elliott), a cowboy type. It starts light; she even offers to smoke weed with him. But what’s really delightful about these scenes is Weitz’s and the other actors’ abilities to reverse the mood of a scene so quickly. Over several lines, the dialogue escalates from happy nostalgia to “why did you come here?” and tense, personal history. Power shifts so realistically, growing from benign compromise to violent insults as each character ruthlessly fights for any advantage. No character is really evil, but each (very honestly) manipulates the other to serve his/her needs. “Why are you here?” becomes the through line of the story, revealing that while you can delay confronting your mistakes, you can never escape them.
The film does the little things well, too. Whether a prop or store name, every detail adds an odd touch. We meet Elle’s tattoo artist friend, “Deathy,” who works at the “Broken Art Tattoo Parlor.” The word “karma boomerang” comes up in conversation. A copy of “A Teen’s Guide to Sexual Health” divides Grandma and Sage’s Mom (Marcia Gray Harden). Some moments lean towards cliché, like the kettle boiling as soon as an argument finishes (and if you look closely, it actually changes color from blue to yellow in one scene), but almost every joke feels genuinely unique. The writers use pop culture sparingly (usually to mock hipsters or coffee shops), and each joke is driven home by Garner and Tomlin’s funny, vulnerable performances. Scripted scenes feel like improv games, and each actor’s gestures and body language contribute to a genuine feeling of spontaneity.
“Grandma” certainly earns every laugh, but its real value lies in the way it reveals the dark, underbelly of family relationships. Ironically, the family’s biggest emergency, teen pregnancy, forces everyone together. It seems to work, but the movie asks honestly, “does it take an emergency to re-examine our relationship with our family?” “Grandma” resolves in intimacy, but it’s unsettling and leaves open the question, “if this emergency never happened, what then?”
“Grandma” is showing at Kimball’s Theater daily at 2:40 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and at Tinseltown daily at various times. Check back next week for the newest, stranded-in-space movie with Matt Damon: “The Martian.”