"To make a list of Lily Tomlin's best performances, you run the risk of simply listing a bunch of Robert Altman films (they made four together; in The Player she just has a cameo). In the sprawling Short Cuts, even though she has a pivotal role as the waitress involved in the accident from which the whole film hangs Tomlin's good-natured, moral performance has a habit of getting lost in the din of actors seeking to make their mark, only really coming to the fore after a few rewatches."
"Written by Tomlin's wife Jane Wagner, this is a parody of 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man, in which Tomlin plays both the titular shrinking woman and her neighbour. While the film didn't enjoy the kindest reception, subsequent generations have been able to see what its slightly muddled execution obscured: that this is a slyly feminist work about a woman buckling under the pressures of untrammelled consumerism."
"For Altman's final film, Tomlin found herself paired with Meryl Streep. They play two Wisconsin sisters with an old-timey country music act. Tomlin's approach to the film, she has revealed, involved impishly trying to throw Streep off her game wherever possible and thereby having the time of her life. Witness, for instance, the moment where she interrupts Streep's folksy introduction to the song My Minnesota Home by turning around and threatening to break the necks of everyone in the band."
Lily Tomlin frequently appears in Robert Altman films, making any list of her best performances inclined toward his work. In Short Cuts Tomlin plays a pivotal waitress whose good-natured, moral performance can be drowned out among a sprawling ensemble and often gains appreciation only after multiple viewings. The Incredible Shrinking Woman features Tomlin in dual roles in a parody of The Incredible Shrinking Man, presenting sly feminist commentary about a woman crushed by rampant consumerism despite initial poor reception. In A Prairie Home Companion Tomlin plays a Wisconsin sister opposite Meryl Streep, delivering impish, playful moments that energize the film.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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