Two estranged former friends reconnect at the funeral of another mutual friend, and decide to exact revenge on their dead friend’s widower for the harm he caused to one of them decades earlier.
Review:
Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are a reliable pair of actors when they work together- and they have for years, in movies and tv series.
In Moving On, directed by the usually comic nimble auteur Paul Weitz, there is something that’s not quite connecting with the funny bone in all of them. Moving On is a comic rape revenge drama without the comedy slotted before the rape and revenge.
I was left feeling that the film was a marketing misfire. The trailers and posters are selling this as a comedy when it most decidedly is not. Or at least, doesn’t feel like one.
It’s not exactly dark. The whole thing takes place in the brightest of brightest sunshine. Even the interior scenes glow. It’s just done and acted so thoroughly straight that there is no room for funny in the serious emoting. It’s a comedy trying hard not to be one. It’s a botch there.
Once I got over this expectation, Moving On became a decent enthralling drama about not moving on, being stuck in the past, and the problems facing senior citizens. Malcom McDonald makes and acts a reasonably deserving villain clueless to his villainy, a gaslighter par excellence. Richard Roundtree provides some much needed romantic sparks and redemptive hope.
When the revenge comes it’s overly sweetened and dished out lukewarm. Weitz wrote the screenplay- I can’t believe that he’s that unaware of what his cinema baby is doing. Moving On remains his ultimate oxymoron.
Because it tries so hard, and is nicely acted I give Moving On a 3.0 out of 5. It’s streaming on Hulu.
Credits:
Directed by
Written by
Paul Weitz
Produced by
- Stephanie Meurer
- Andrew Miano
- Chris Parker
- Dylan Sellers
- Paul Weitz
Starring
Cinematography
Tobias Datum
Edited by
Hilda Rasula
Music by
Amanda Jones
Production
companies
- Boies Schiller Entertainment
- Depth of Field
- Limelight
Distributed by
Release dates
- September 13, 2022(TIFF)
- March 17, 2023(United States)
Running time
85 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
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