The Meddler (2016)

A film that describes the relationships and the hardships of dealing with pain and moving on. Who knew that simplicity is the key to tell a story like that.

This is a watchable movie about a recent widow who moves from East to West Coast to be with her only daughter who is preoccupied with her screen writing career and her failed romance.She fills the void in her life by helping out at the hospital and helping her daughter's friends wedding and babysitting.The story is touching without being overly sentimental. Nothing too dramatic happens so it's realistic enough.Susan Sarandon looks very young still. This isn't an eccentric character like Sally Field in Hello my name is Doris. Susan is still quite attractive hence lots of men interested in her in the movie. Her suitor is played by JK Simmons. Rose Byrne plays her daughter.Worth one watch.

Marnie (Susan Sarandon) lives an empty life after the death of her husband Joey. His death left her with more money than she needs. She moved from New York to L.A. to be close to her TV writer daughter Lori (Rose Byrne) and her grand-doggies. It's a struggle to fill her days and she is constantly trying to get into Lori's life. She's even going to Lori's therapist. Lori is suffering about her ex Jacob and from Marnie's meddling. Lori travels to New York. Marnie promises to pay for Lori's friend Jillian (Cecily Strong)'s wedding. She gives rides to Freddy from the Apple genius store. She volunteers at the hospital. Zipper (J.K. Simmons) is a retired cop working on a movie set that Marnie accidentally works onto.This actually works better after Lori leaves town. Marnie's adventures are fun. Jillian's wedding feels a little Bridesmaids. There is an overload of funny women but it's fine. Jerrod Carmichael is a fun little appetizer but the main course is J.K. Simmons. I actually missed these characters when Marnie goes to New York. I would rather have an indie about Marnie with Jillian, Freddy, and Zipper. It's a bit depressing without them and I can only take so much.

Enjoyable movie, with a strong central performance by Susan Sarandon, and dependable support from Rose Byrne and J.K. Simmons.Writer-director Lorene Scafaria tells her story skilfully, wittily and warmly. Ms Sarandon plays Marnie, a New Yorker who, following the death of her husband, relocates to L.A. to be near her screenwriter daughter Lori, played by Ms Byrne. The film is really about the two women working through their grief, but the telling of their tale is done with deftly, lightly: it isn't a heavy film. The overall tone is one of optimism, but without anything mawkish or Pollyanna-ish.When Lori heads back to NYC to work on a TV project, Marnie knows she has to look for ways to fill her time. She volunteers as a baby-sitter to a friend of Lori's, which leads her to becoming a wedding-planner; she volunteers at a hospital, which culminates in a most unexpectedly moving scene; she stumbles into a location shoot for a movie, becomes a walk-on, and thereby finds a friend in a retired policeman played by Mr Simmons; and she befriends a young guy who helps her come to grips with her iPad (product placement, I suspect) she ends up helping him in return.If you think there are too many story lines, you're right. This is the film's only weakness, to my mind. In particular , the iPad guy story line is redundant: it has no pay-off and, in spite of a charming performance by Jerrod Carmichael, could easily be cut from the movie, making it a lean 90 minutes instead of the slightly flabby 100 that it is.All in all, it's a well-crafted, gently amusing piece of work.