This is a terrific little black comedy that somehow flew under the radar. It's very slight - I like to call movies like this an appetizer - but what it does, it does very well. Black comedy is very tough to pull off, but this film does a splendid job of maintaining its bite while still allowing moments of emotion and humanity that never feel manipulative. It is not a politically correct movie, and many will balk at the origins of its humor, but that's what I personally appreciated about it. Both Fonda and Tomlin are great, and they've obviously honed their chemistry to an art form after their decades working together. One could rightfully call them the Lemmon & Matthau of today's cinema. They are a joy to watch here, together and apart, and Fonda is particularly radiant. There is also a fantastic, beautifully understated performance by Richard Roundtree as Fonda's ex-husband that exudes charm and elegance. This film succeeds in melding comedy and drama where many other, bigger movies have failed. Credit director and co-writer Weitz, who also directed Tomlin in one of her best performances in GRANDMA as well as the fantastic Hugh Grant film ABOUT A BOY. I encourage you to check this one out if you have the opportunity. It's a definite hidden treasure.

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.