{"id":4139,"date":"2024-09-21T14:14:22","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T14:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:03:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:03:08","slug":"the-incredible-shrinking-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/21\/the-incredible-shrinking-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Incredible Shrinking Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Incredible Shrinking Woman <\/strong>(1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (brief language, an obscene gesture, some gunplay, scenes of domestic peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joel Schumacher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jane Wagner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Suzanne Ciani\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bruce Logan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 30, 1981 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, Justin Dana, Shelby Balik, Henry Gibson, Elizabeth Wilson, Mark Blankfield, John Glover, Maria Smith, Pamela Bellwood, Dick Wilson, Mike Douglas, Rick Baker.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $20.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have clear memories of going to see the Lily Tomlin comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman<\/strong> with my buddy BO on opening weekend. We both laughed our 13YO heads off at the silly story of a suburban housewife who has a most unusual reaction to household chemicals. We enjoyed the slapstick comedy and special effects without once considering its satirical look at American consumerism or its metaphoric representation of the diminishing role of housewife in modern society. It\u2019s all in there; it\u2019s as plain as day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tomlin plays Pat Kramer, a harried housewife and frazzled mother of two bratty kids living in the bright-colored suburb of Tasty Meadows. Life there is good and a little surreal. Impossibly happy neighbors shout product endorsements instead of hello as Pat drives down the street. She has so many products in her house; she hardly has space to put away the groceries she just bought. Her husband, advertising executive Vance (Grodin, Seems Like Old Times), is always bring home their latest product for them to test out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One day, Pat discovers she is literally shrinking. Her jewelry falls off and her clothes no longer fit. Nosy neighbor and best friend Judith (Tomlin in a dual role) can’t even see Pat\u2019s head as she passes her kitchen window. A series of medical tests reveal it\u2019s due to her exposure to various chemicals contained in household products. She immediately becomes an international celebrity even appearing on Mike Douglas\u2019 show where he introduces her with the song \u201cLittle Things Mean a Lot\u201d. She also catches the attention of a group of mad scientists who want to use her for their own nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Joel Schumacher in his first feature film effort, The Incredible Shrinking Woman<\/strong> is obviously a comic take on the 1957 sci-fi classic The Incredible Shrinking Man. It\u2019s pretty funny for the most part. Tomlin, who also reprises her Laugh-In character \u201cErnestine the Telephone Operator\u201d in one scene, is a gifted comic actress. She creates a believable and sympathetic character amidst the silliness and giant sets. Grodin, in his customary deadpan manner, provides ample support as the husband trying to balance his career and upended home life. Tomlin\u2019s Laugh-In costar Henry Gibson is underused as one of the evil doctors. Mark Blankfield (Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again) has an early role as a goofy lab assistant who helps Pat. Trivia buffs take note, the fussy supermarket manager is played by Dick Wilson, better known as Mr. Whipple on the old Charmin commercials.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Schumacher has difficulty striking a consistent tone in The Incredible Shrinking Woman<\/strong>, going back and forth between cute comedy and knowing satire. He doesn\u2019t commit to either one which results in a noticeably off-balance movie. However, he gets points for adding intelligence to the equation. Pat having to move into a dollhouse positively rings with echoes of Ibsen. As she grows smaller, people listen to her less and less. Kids can identify with this plight. Like Pat, they\u2019re smaller than everybody else and nobody is listening.<\/p>\n

\u00a0All these years later, I\u2019m still impressed with the special effects, achieved mainly through process photography. At one time, The Incredible Shrinking Woman<\/strong> was intended as a 3D movie, but it didn\u2019t happen. Life presents a whole new set of challenges when you\u2019re suddenly only inches tall. The kitchen, especially the garbage disposal, is a death trap. The set design is clever and inventive. They allow for some good comic set-pieces like Pat\u2019s escape from the bad guys\u2019 lab on the back of a gorilla who knows sign language. He\u2019s played by makeup artist Rick Baker who would go on to become the first winner of the Best Makeup Oscar for his work on that year\u2019s An American Werewolf in London. The movie has a unique visual scheme highlighted by bright colors that represent the characters\u2019 idyllic lives in this TV commercial alternate universe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Incredible Shrinking Woman<\/strong> has a goofy side. The bad guys are buffoons and fools. The Hispanic housemaid (Smith) is an exaggerated stereotype. She watches telenovelas and dances around the kitchen to salsa music. Pat\u2019s attempt at intimacy with her husband ends abruptly with a ride back to her dollhouse on her son\u2019s skateboard. You can\u2019t take it too seriously even if it does attempt to address serious themes. How seriously can you take a movie that resorts to showing the bad guys slipping on banana peels? It may not be as hilarious as it was to 13YO Movie Guy, but it\u2019s still good for a few mindless yet knowing laughs.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (brief language, an obscene gesture, some gunplay, scenes of domestic peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joel Schumacher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jane Wagner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Suzanne Ciani\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bruce Logan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 30, 1981 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, Justin Dana, Shelby Balik, Henry Gibson, Elizabeth Wilson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Incredible-Shrinking-Wo.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5452,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions\/5452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}