by Scott Batchelor, Contributing Writer
Moving On is certainly an interesting story, but with only an 85-minute runtime, it comes just short of making it entertaining.
We open on a generic joke: Claire (Jane Fonda) is telling someone offscreen how much she is going to miss them. We cut to find out she is just talking to a cute little Yorkie. Claire is traveling halfway across the country to say goodbye to her friend Joyce, who has recently passed away. It is at the funeral that she lets Howard (Malcolm McDowell) know that she plans to kill him that weekend.
During Howard’s eulogy, Evelyn (Lily Tomlin) interrupts to break the tension. Or that is what she is most likely supposed to do if there was actual tension. At no time during this movie is there any real sadness about the death. Howard was just made a widow, but doesn’t show any remorse. Joyce’s daughter (Sarah Burns) speaks softly, but with no sadness. Joyce’s grandkids are literally running around the cemetery. This is supposed to be a black comedy, but it is missing the dark humor that could make this more notable.
The other part of Evelyn’s entrance not hitting the mark is Tomlin’s performance. At first I thought she was supposed to be playing drunk, but as the movie dragged on, the more I realized it was just Tomlin. She does her best to express herself, but she only has one, stoic expression due to the typical Hollywood surgery. If it wasn’t for her timing in her line delivery, she would drag this movie down lower than it already is.
The actual comedy part is largely hit-or-miss. Some jokes land, but they get nothing more than a chuckle from me. I was sharing the theater with a few other people who seemed to be having a great time, but I think they were more in the target audience for this one. I was hoping that the darkness of the movie would be more my type, but this is certainly a movie for your parents’ parents.
Fonda does put in the work to carry a majority of the movie, but there are times she is doing nothing more than reading lines. She does well working off love interest Ralph (Richard Roundtree), and towards the end where she lets her trauma overtake her, but short of being able to show emotion, Fonda is just going through the motions.
You do eventually find out why Claire is seeking out revenge after Joyce’s death, and it is exactly why you would think. She has kept this to herself for four decades (46 years to be exact): Claire valued her best friend’s blissful ignorance over her own desire for justice. She has been holding onto this for so long, the moment Joyce is in the ground, Claire moves in to fulfill her revenge fantasy.
This movie tries to speak on the unimaginable situations women have to face, and in some aspects, it succeeds. Claire even goes into detail about the incident in question, and how she envisioned a police report would sound. It is raw to hear because of the truth behind it. Women are still fighting to get justice for even recent incidents. Imagine trying to make a case in the ’80s. Claire is clearly holding onto something. It’s deep seated and has destroyed her previous life. Every time she talks about it, both directly and indirectly, you see that she is on a mission she has to take care of before Moving On with her life.
There is a clever story here, and the themes are worth talking about, but by a better movie. By the time Claire finally breaks down after so many years of frustration, it feels forced and unearned. Characters make odd choices, only to move the story along and not for any sane reason. Their growth is completely undercut the very next scene, and it is just baffling. I feel this script was written for a specific premise, but the pacing and rushed ending shows that it had nothing more than a simple idea.
I think with a younger cast, and more dark humor, this movie works much better. This is not an offensive movie to watch, but I can’t recommend you seek it out.
Score: 5/10
Moving On is currently playing in theaters
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