Meryl Streep<\/a>. They play Wisconsin sisters with an old-timey country music act. Tomlin\u2019s approach to the film, she has revealed, involved impishly trying to throw Streep off her game wherever possible \u2013 and thereby having the time of her life. Witness, for instance, the moment where she interrupts Streep\u2019s folksy introduction to the song My Minnesota Home by turning around and threatening to break the necks of everyone in the band.<\/p>\n7. I Heart Huckabees (2004)<\/p>\n
Even if you haven\u2019t seen David O Russell\u2019s philosophical comedy, there\u2019s a very strong chance that you will have seen its behind-the-scenes footage, in which Russell berates an unimpressed Tomlin in front of the crew. As you might expect from such a chaotic production, the final film is a bit of a mess, tonally and narratively all over the place. Nevertheless, it manages to showcase a range of terrific performances. Tomlin\u2019s \u2013 as an existential detective who specialises in espousing transcendental interconnectedness \u2013 holds the whole thing together.<\/p>\n
6. Grandma (2015)<\/p>\n
Paul Weitz has become one of Tomlin\u2019s most trusted collaborators in recent years, and this film \u2013 featuring her first leading film role in 27 years \u2013 feels tailor-made for her. Tomlin plays a poet mourning the death of her partner, who suddenly finds direction when her 18-year-old granddaughter (Julia Garner) asks her to scrabble together some money for an abortion. It\u2019s a situation that allows Tomlin to play to every strength. She\u2019s funny and short-tempered, and rightfully received a Golden Globes nod for the trouble.<\/p>\n
5. The Late Show (1977)Played to the hilt \u2026 Art Carney and Tomlin in The Late Show. Photograph: Collection Christophel\/Alamy<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nicest, warmest, funniest and most touching movie you\u2019ll ever see about blackmail, mystery and murder,\u201d reads the poster for this hidden gem. Art Carney plays a private detective whose best years are behind him. Tomlin plays a woman with a missing cat who leads him into an ever-deepening conspiracy. What\u2019s astonishing about this film is that all its contrasting tones are played to the hilt. As a thriller, it\u2019s thrilling. As a drama, it\u2019s tight as it comes. But, thanks mainly to Tomlin\u2019s performance, you could easily confuse it for a comedy.<\/p>\n
4. Tea With Mussolini (1999)Cutting through the stuffiness \u2026 Cher and Tomlin in Tea With Mussolini. Photograph: RGR Collection\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s semi-autobiographical drama about an Italian boy surrounded by British and American women during the second world war boasts a stellar cast. Maggie Smith is obstinate and dismissive. Judi Dench emotes like never before. Cher sings. But it\u2019s difficult not to be drawn to Tomlin\u2019s Georgie Rockwell, an archaeologist whose presence single-handedly cuts through much of the film\u2019s innate stuffiness.<\/p>\n
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)<\/p>\n
In the comic book pantheon, Peter Parker\u2019s Aunt May is often a thankless role, the doddery old do-gooder left behind after the death of her husband. Tomlin\u2019s version, in the Oscar-winning animated film, was anything but. Halfway through the movie, she effectively becomes Miles Morales\u2019s Q, unleashing a world of cutting-edge technology on the young hero to vault him towards the finishing line. And in a series filled with tremendous vocal performances, her deadpan \u201cOh great, it\u2019s Liv,\u201d upon seeing Kathryn Hahn\u2019s Doc Ock runs away with the film.<\/p>\n
2. Nashville (1975)Steals the show \u2026 Tomlin with Keith Carradine in Nashville. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Limited.\/Alamy<\/p>\n
The ambition of Robert Altman\u2019s vision here is impressive. An acid temperature check on the status of America in the 1970s, Nashville stars everyone \u2013 Ned Beatty, Jeff Goldblum, Shelley Duvall, Scott Glenn \u2013 and contains a full hour of songs. Tomlin plays a gospel singer with two deaf children, and steals the show. The stretch where she falls for Keith Carradine, only to leave with her dignity intact, is especially beautifully observed. Plus, she co-wrote one of the songs.<\/p>\n
1. 9 to 5 (1980)Stroke of genius \u2026 Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in 9 to 5. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n
The story goes that Jane Fonda settled on her co-stars for this seminal workplace comedy during a drive back from the theatre. She had been to see a Lily Tomlin play and Dolly Parton<\/a> was on the radio. Whatever the reason, the casting was alchemic. And Tomlin\u2019s performance as a long serving employee continually passed over for promotion represents its raging black heart. Not only was the film a stroke of genius, part of Fonda\u2019s scheme to drip-feed serious issues as entertainingly as possible, but it kickstarted a double act with Tomlin that has lasted 45 years and counting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"10. Short Cuts (1993) To make a list of Lily Tomlin\u2019s best performances, you run the risk of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-397677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115146947962276809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}