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Thursday, May 19, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘Grace and Frankie’ is a
breath of fresh air on TV
TV REVIEW
“Grace and Frankie”
shows improvement
on its first season
By SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Arts Writer
The second season of “Grace
and Frankie” began with wishes
and ended with vibrators. To
be more pre-
cise, it began
with Frankie
(Lily Tomlin,
“Grandma”)
making a wish
on
an
eye-
lash and then
yanking a hair
from
Grace’s
(Jane
Fonda,
“Youth) chin and making Grace
wish on it, and it ended with
them deciding to make a busi-
ness out of sex toys for women
with arthritis (while also saying
goodbye to a dear friend). It was a
tightly written season, wrapping
up almost all loose ends while
still leaving a few tantalizing
ideas for future seasons.
In the first episode of the
second season, Robert (Martin
Sheen, “The West Wing”) has a
heart attack and ends up in the
hospital. Before he goes into
surgery, he decides he wants
to marry Sol (Sam Waterson,
“The Newsroom”) in the hospi-
tal, just in case. It’s up to Grace
and Frankie to find a minister
for the wedding of their two ex-
husbands — and thus, the first
episode of hilarity ensues. First
they find a Catholic priest who
won’t marry gays; then they find
a rabbi who has no problem with
two men getting married, but he
won’t officiate a wedding that’s
not between two Jewish people.
Grace, fed up with this non-
sense, finally shouts: “There’s a
sick WASP upstairs who needs to
marry the Jewish one!” Eventu-
ally, Frankie officiates the wed-
ding, beginning with “We are
here today to join my ex-husband
with her ex-husband.”
Throughout
the
episode,
Frankie decides to sell her infa-
mous lube made with yams to
Grace’s daughter Brianna (June
Diane Raphael, “Burning Love”),
who runs a cosmetics business.
Frankie wants millions of dollars
and her own vaginal art on the
boxes and stubbornly holds on to
several of her values regarding
the business, making Brianna’s
life extremely difficult. Grace
goes on a journey to find an old
flame, which doesn’t and then
does work out.
One of the funniest parts of the
fifth episode is a bit of a throw-
away conversation between Grace
and Frankie. Grace, while talking
to Frankie about her relationship
with her old friends, refers to the
“whole Robert mess” — mean-
ing, of course, the fact that Rob-
ert and Sol had been cheating
on Grace and Frankie with each
other for years — and Frankie
asks her what she means by that.
Grace looks incredulously at her
and Frankie realizes what she
means, but quickly tosses it away
with a hand wave. This season
builds on what the first season
did by allowing room for the
expression of the pain that comes
from cheating but also makes us
aware that the most important
part of this show is the resilience
of these two women, and their
friendship.
“Grace and Frankie” deals
with more than the negotiation of
relationship politics between two
families bizarrely twined togeth-
er. As the two main characters
and their husbands are both of
retirement age, everyone’s got
mortality on the brain. One of
Grace and Frankie’s eccentric
friends throws herself the “party
to end all parties” because she
wants one final good time before
she dies by choice before letting
cancer get her first. The show
portrays a positive stance on peo-
ple choosing how and when they
want to go when their options
are limited, injecting slivers of
humor and hope into a conver-
sation that is otherwise bleak.
The finale features a magnifi-
cent speech by both Grace and
Frankie on how women their
age aren’t respected or acknowl-
edged — especially sexually — so
they decide to go into business
together, making vibrators for
women with arthritis.
The
acting
has
only
strengthened
over
time,
bolstered by hysterical writing.
The jokes land one right after the
other; Tomlin and Fonda have
unrivaled chemistry on screen
(though it is still fun to watch
Sheen and Waterson play lovers),
which is part of the reason
“Grace and Frankie” was able to
make a significant demographic
care about a show that revolves
around
two
wealthy,
white,
older-than-middle aged women
and their families. While it’s
hard to ignore just how wealthy
they are — especially every
time there’s a beautiful shot
of a meal at the beach house —
and how their abilities to cope
with their problems are aided
by that, the show manages to
ground itself in comedy that
never lacks a heartfelt warmth.
NETFLIX
“Is that yam lube all it’s cracked up to be?”
‘Monster’ bores
By RACHEL RICHARDSON
Daily Arts Writer
Perhaps the reason why kids
have trouble believing there really
are no monsters under their beds is
that they can eas-
ily detect bullshit
in the explana-
tions we provide
them.
“Money
Monster”
dem-
onstrates
the
extent to which
members of the
adult world allow
themselves
to
accept the ques-
tionable excuses
large corporations give them
when they have a major screw up.
However, there comes a point, like
when a company loses eight bil-
lion dollars and proceeds to attri-
bute the mishap to a technological
glitch, when everyone becomes
suspicious and angry.
Now, “Money Monster” is not
actually a nickname for the rather
unthreatening
antagonist,
but
rather it’s the title of Lee Gates’s
(George Clooney, “Gravity”) tele-
vision show directed by Patty
Fern (Julia Roberts, “Notting
Hill”). Every Friday, Lee gives
financial tips to the public that,
while mostly accurate, are usually
exaggerated. Thus, his fanbase is
countered by a substantial group
of haters. One of these haters,
Kyle Budwell (Jack O’ Connell,
“Unbroken”), sneaks onto the set
determined to get an explanation
for how IBIS (a powerful corpora-
tion) could possibly lose eight bil-
lion dollars overnight. He begins
his interrogation by forcing Lee to
make himself a human bomb. The
only wrinkle in Kyle’s plan is that
IBIS’s CEO, Walt Cannby (Domi-
nic West, “300”), who was previ-
ously scheduled to do an in-person
interview that day, has suddenly
gone rogue (coincidence? I think
not). At first, Lee thinks Kyle is
a disillusioned psychopath con-
vinced his life is far worse than
anyone else’s. But, as Lee listens to
Kyle’s testimony, he becomes con-
vinced the real culprit must have
human, not virtual fingerprints.
Clooney
adds
an
essential
layer of depth to the typical
bigoted millionaire TV show host
persona. He demonstrates hosting
is a craft that requires the ability
to make a connection with people,
which is something not many can
do well. Furthermore, Clooney
shows hosts are frequently actors
themselves — the attitude they
exhibit for the camera may not
be an accurate representation
of their true personality. On air,
Lee’s a know-it-all who views
women as nothing more than
sexualized objects. Yet, off screen,
he exudes sincere gratitude for his
entire crew, especially Patty.
Roberts’ portrayal of her char-
acter assures us Patty deserves
this recognition. Patty comes
off as a trustworthy, intelligent
woman who can remain calm dur-
ing high risk situations. On the
other hand, she’s also not afraid
to be annoyingly persistent and
yell at high powered executives
when they offer her nothing more
than fabricated excuses. Finally,
she’s a triumphant representative
of women in power — not once
do we question her ability to lead
the crew of at least 30 individuals,
most of whom are male.
“Money Monster” pales in
comparison to the films of both
genres it tries to blend. Unlike
crime thrillers such as “Now You
See Me” that leave viewers guess-
ing until the final scene, “Money
Monster” ’s events play out in a
predictable manner. And, though
it does expose the corruption of
wealthy institutions, it fails to
arouse the same intense feelings
of hatred toward those who mis-
handle our hard-earned money
that “The Big Short” does. Despite
this, the film is not entirely dis-
tasteful, thanks to the comic relief
provided by the loyal cameraman,
Lenny (Lenny Venito, “War of the
Worlds”), and the producer, Rob
(Christopher Denham, “Shutter
Island”).
Instead of smoothly shifting
from one tone to the next, the film
abruptly switches between them.
While music usually helps to ease
this type of transition, direc-
tor Jodie Foster’s (“The Silence
of the Lambs”) use of music only
enhances the contradicting tones.
She follows the awkwardly sappy
ending with Dan the Automator’s
hype hip-hop track, “What Make
the World Go Round [MONEY!].”
So, when deciding where to
throw your green this weekend,
know that “Money Monster” is a
very risky investment. If I were
you, I’d take that eight dollars and
spend it somewhere else.
FILM REVIEW
A-
Grace and
Frankie
Season 2
Netflix
C+
Money
Monster
Sony Pictures
Rave and
Quality 16