Moving On

Grade: B+

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin appeared together a month and a half ago in 80 for Brady, which barely squeaked in with a favorable rating from me. It ended up being a pleasant enough lark, but I felt like these aging female stars – legendary as they are – were doing it more for themselves, and having more fun than the viewer watching it. Fonda and Tomlin are together again so soon in Moving On, in theaters now – and this time, it doesn’t feel like they’re doing a victory lap, or resting on laurels. With Moving On, they are pushing forward and covering new ground with a vibrant piece of art. Not to mention that in 80 for Brady, Fonda played a wig-wearing cougar, trying to “present” as young as possible, whereas here, she embraces her silver foxiness, graceful aging, and – whattaya know – looks better.

Writer/director Paul Weitz’s credits include American Pie, Down to Earth, About a Boy, Little Fockers, and a host of intriguing titles I have yet to see. However, perhaps unfairly, I remember his name most from Little Fockers, which left a sour taste in my mouth. Fonda plays Claire, who comes back to her hometown for the funeral of her college friend Joyce. Claire is carrying some undealt-with trauma from a drunken sexual assault perpetrated by Joyce’s husband Howard (Malcolm McDowell) 46 years ago. It completely derailed Claire’s first marriage, to Ralph (Richard Rountree). After all this time, Evelyn (Tomlin) has been the only soul she told about this encounter. Claire’s holding onto it took a toll on her life. Cats like that aren’t meant to be kept in bags.

This plot detail is handled and referred to quite delicately for most of the movie, until near the end, when Claire confronts Howard, revisiting in harrowingly specific detail exactly what happened. It’s one of the best moments in a movie that has many great ones. Actors, down to the supporting ones, are perfectly chosen. Roundtree, who played Shaft for the first time 52 years ago, is as suave and appealing as ever – to the point where it feels so unfortunate that the marriage to Fonda didn’t work out, all because of this elephant in the room. Tomlin is funny and deadpan, but also gets to have sweet, wise, profound scenes – notably in a poignant subplot involving a pair of earrings. McDowell is appropriately frosty and slimy. Some people never learn. Though his ultimate fate is satisfactory to the characters, I thought he got off too easily.

Look at me, getting worked up and angry about a fictional character. This film has lovely, unexpected ways of stirring up strong emotions. If the humor sometimes gets too cutesy (particularly with Tomlin’s trademark sarcasm), it never overpowers or ruins the scene. Moving On has things to say. It will make you laugh, cry, think, and I kind of loved it. I was hunkering down for what I thought was just yet another octogenarian comedy, but I got much more.