I will always love Lily Tomlin. I always enjoyed Jane Fonda in her youthful movie star mode, but since she came out of retirement, she elevates everything she's in. I think she was the primary reason I kept watching Newsroom for three seasons. I kept waiting for her every appearance. In Grace and Frankie, Tomlin and Fonda have to overcome a rather unbelievable situation--that is to face the fact that they husbands they have been married to for over forty years have somehow falling in love and intend to marry each other. Relegated to a kind of "Odd Couple" status, they end up living in a Malibu beach house their husbands bought years earlier. Each couple used the house on separate weekends. Now Grace and Frankie have to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and move on. Jane Fonda as Grace is at her brittle comedic best. She delivers in spades, looks stunning in her latish 70s and plays off Lily Tomlin's hippy-esque character with spunk and funny nerve. Grace has to face the fact that she's an uptight, judgmental pain in the ass. And Tomlin's Frankie is just the person to remind her over and over again. The scripts are tightly funny. The interplay between the two ex-couples is expert. Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen have nearly thankless roles as the two spouses who dump their wives, but they handle the dialog ad the romantic banter with dignity. But let's face it, you're waiting for Grace and Frankie to spark off each other. It's not the kind of laugh-out-loud absurdest insults The Golden Girls hurled at each other with such glee, but the humor is key here. There is is just enough drama to remind us of the absurdity of life. I couldn't wait to watch this show when it was announced. Fonda and Tomlin were terrific with Dolly Parton in Nine to Five, but they are even better here. This is a terrific show. I'll stick around as long as these two glorious stars are here to make us laugh and cry.
Review of Grace and Frankie
