A modern dress mutation of High Noon with a pro-life message substituting for the “real time” western’s obvious allegory against blacklisting. Instead of a cowardly Marshal soliciting the aid of local townsfolk (including his girlfriend!), storming granny Lily Tomlin races against the clock, going hat-in-hand to various guest stars (including an overstated Marcia Gay Harden as her daughter!) trying to raise the cash needed to meet her granddaughter’s 5:45 pm appointment with the abortionist. It’s the same cutesy “curmudgeon and kid” approach that failed to earn St. Vincent’s Bill Murray an Oscar nomination. Tomlin’s crotchety fusspot travels by vintage wheels, can’t modulate her voice in public, and is quick to deliver a crash course on feminist literature to the kid, played by porcelain kewpie doll with Harpo Marx curls, Julia Garner. To call Paul Weitz (Little Fockers) a writer-director would be an insult to both professions. See it for Sam Elliott, who for 10 impeccable minutes steals the picture. (2015) — Scott Marks
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