Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin) lives in the suburbs of Tasty Meadows, California. She's a suburban housewife with two bratty kids. Her husband Vance (Charles Grodin) is an advertising executive and Dan Beame (Ned Beatty) is his boss. Her maid is Concepcion. Her neighbor Judith Beasley (Lily Tomlin) is a cosmetics saleslady. She faces a barrage of chemicals and consumer products including an experimental glue from her husband's work. Her doctor discovers that she is slowly shrinking. A dark mysterious organization wants her blood for a shrinking serum to shrink masses of people.
This is a satire and a dark comedy. Problem is that it annoyed me much more than it humored me. The kids are annoying. Every character is annoying in some ways. The in-your-face style is annoying. The production is annoying. That puke pink is annoying. The only appealing aspect is the split screen, the enlarged sets, and the forced perspective. The simple visual of a tiny Lily Tomlin in the everyday world is fun. It pushes a dark worthwhile narrative on modern consumerism. It would work better if the first part is more real and less in-your-face. The movie can build to the surreal later on as she shrinks and they throw in a gorilla. The start is too off-putting and it gets too silly.
This is a satire and a dark comedy. Problem is that it annoyed me much more than it humored me. The kids are annoying. Every character is annoying in some ways. The in-your-face style is annoying. The production is annoying. That puke pink is annoying. The only appealing aspect is the split screen, the enlarged sets, and the forced perspective. The simple visual of a tiny Lily Tomlin in the everyday world is fun. It pushes a dark worthwhile narrative on modern consumerism. It would work better if the first part is more real and less in-your-face. The movie can build to the surreal later on as she shrinks and they throw in a gorilla. The start is too off-putting and it gets too silly.