The way in which our society mistreats the elderly has inspired some of the great masterworks of the twentieth century - plays like Death of a Salesman, films like Tokyo Story - which present us with a bittersweet portrait of how our desire for endless youth leads us to dispose of our parents with absolutely no mercy. While some might argue that’s just the cycle of life, or a natural reaction due to our Darwinian sense of survival, Hollywood has usually shied away from touching on these stories. Which is why Lorene Scafaria’s dramedy The Meddler feels like such a breath of fresh, if heartbreaking, air.
The film stars Susan Sarandon as Marnie Minervini, a recent widow who decides to leave New York for Los Angeles so she can be closer to her screenwriter daughter Lori (Rose Byrne). It’s obvious however that Lori doesn’t need, or want, her around. The more she calls, and shows up unannounced, the angrier and shriller her daughter becomes. Marnie, out of pure maternal love or self-delusion, doesn’t seem to notice this and insists on repeating her practices day after day. But when Lori goes to New York for a few weeks to work on a TV show, it’s up to Marnie to find her own new life.
She chooses to take on a series of projects, help plan the wedding of Lori’s lesbian friend Jillian (Cecily Strong), help young Apple store employee Freddy (Jerrod Carmichael) pursue higher education, begin sessions with a therapist (Amy Landecker) and soon she also meets a potential beau in the shape of retired police officer Zipper (J.K. Simmons). In the larger scheme of things The Meddler seems to be a crowdpleaser timed to draw in mothers and daughters to the movie theater, and as such one shouldn’t look down at that noble mission because we certainly need more of this kind of entertainment.
What comes as a real surprise though is to discover the delicate insight with which Scafaria (who also wrote the screenplay) crafts a tale that ends up being more than just crowd pleasing entertainment. The fact that she dedicates the film to the kind of character who is traditionally relegated as the kooky sidekick in films and television shows is quite the feat. There is a scene in which we in fact see Marnie arrive at this conclusion when she visits her daughter on set. Watching Marnie realize she has been playing a supporting part in her own life is like a punch in the gut. It helps of course than in Marnie, Sarandon has created one of her finest characters to date, a lovable woman who tries to please others at the cost of losing herself.
Sarandon’s comedic timing hasn’t been this spot on since Bull Durham (she has also rarely been as sexy as she is in this) and her ability to break your heart will undoubtedly bring to mind her work in Stepmom (which in a way is a spiritual sibling to The Meddler). To see Sarandon at the peak of her powers isn’t only testament to her unique skills as an actor, it should also inspire real life Marnies who will go from being “meddlers” to becoming leaders.
