Take the cast list here in IMDb... From Lily Tomlim to Sam Elliot, everyone acted in such perfectly suitable way that fit their characters, and that was so f*ckin' delicious to watch. Everyone? Yes! John Cho with his cameo as the cafeé manager/owner or whatever... He pulled off that part, 'cause more than once a manager at Starbuck's came to me in the same way, the same tone, probably the same words... In anyway, how he pulled of? 'Cause you didn't laughed at him trying to do it... He convinced you as a coffee manager/owner... For sure you recognized him at sight but it <more> wasn't the actor John Cho in screen. The same for Nat Wolf... He was the *sshole in the scene and he got his *ss kicked by his ex's grandma... It wasn't Nat Wolf there... Maybe that is the definition of acting, but c'mon, you will say that you can't recognize lazy acting or that typical self acting? In Grandma the cast embrace their roles and that is f*ckin' awesome!You, on the other hand, might not even get interested in Cho's or Wolf's performance... You might be as well a protagonist kind of person... Not judging... Scene one already deliver a very emotional moment between Lily Tomlim's and Judy Greer's characters. You don't know them, you wasn't really paying attention till this point so you not sure if you should know who they are or why they are fighting for... BUT, the feelings are so real and intense... Olivia opening her chest and expressing all her feelings about the situation while Elle keeps it "cool" and shows a b*tchy side of her, right at the start... Scene one is raw feeling...And both actresses keep delivering that raw feeling while they're on screen through the whole movie. Needless to say that Lily Tomlim's performance is one of the best by a lead actress in the year and should have get a nomination from the Academy.About Julia Garner. So little was talked about that young actress. OK, I agree that Tomlim took the movie to the next level, but lets not forget the girl that shares the screen basically through the whole film. How many times the role of a pregnant teenager was played in the movies? Many or more... Credits to the writer/director 'cause he designed a delicious character for that pregnant teenager, so much layers and some kind of contradictions that skips completely from the stereotypes and from the clichés... But writing a good character is only halfway through. Julia Garner was able to incorporate each and every one of the little complications of the character and in result she was perfect. The awkwardness, the rage, the doubt, the fear... It was all so authentic! She is not a first timer, we all can see her delivering great performances in "Electrick Children" and in "We Are What We Are" and "Grandma" is one more great performance to put on her resume. A final thought on her... Actually in young actresses... By heart I can mention four really good performances of young actresses in the last year, and that's a lot considering my awful memory... Saoirse Ronan in "Brooklyn", Elle Fanning in "Trumbo", Olivia Cook in "Me, Earl and The Dying Girl" and Julia Garner in "Grandma". And those are the ones that I can remember... The film industry has to look out for many new talents.Well... This is already longer than I thought... Sam Elliot and Marcia Gay Harden were great also!Paul Weitz is an incredible director and writer, and his resume shows that clearly, so i think that extend my compliments would be like thin rain in the ocean. BUt is necessary to say that the dialogs in the movie were just clever and delightful as possible. "I like being old, young people are stupid." HOW GREAT IS THAT?And that is just one line of many that I loved, but I couldn't quote by heart. My point is the story is very well written, such as the characters, and the dialogue is just great!But at the end of the day, this is one of those movies made by the cast. The movie could be flawless in some technical point of view, the script could've been wrote by Shakespeare and be directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The acting would still have outshined all of that.I'm just surprised with the budget... Just $600.000, really? There's a zero missing probably! <less> |