Lily Tomlin

A teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy seeks help from her acerbic grandmother, a woman who is long estranged from her daughter. Lily Tomlin stars as Elle who has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when Elle's granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing six hundred dollars before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets. Elle Reid, a feminist poet with some renown, was in a thirty-eight year same sex relationship until her wife, Violet, passed away eighteen months ago. Since then, Elle has been in transition in her life in many facets, although returning to writing has not been one of those facets, she long ago having given that up. She has just ended a four month relationship with a grad student named Olivia, that May-December relationship, her first relationship since Vi, which she states will just be an inconsequential blip in her life. Elle has an adult daughter, Judy Reid, the product of a one night stand as she wanted a child but obviously, as a lesbian, not a husband. Judy, a driven businesswoman, in turn has a teenaged daughter, Sage Reid, the sperm which produced her being from a sperm bank in Judy not having the time to have a relationship. Sage and Elle are scared of Judy, the two more senior Reids who rarely speak to each other, especially since Vi's death. On this day, Sage turns to her grandmother for six hundred thirty dollars to get an abortion, Sage not wanting to ask her mother in the otherwise need to tell her she's pregnant. Elle, currently broke having just paid off Vi's extensive medical bills, wants to help Sage, and knows that asking Judy, for both her own and Sage's sakes, is out of the question. As such, Elle and Sage go on a quest to find that six hundred thirty dollars. In the process, Elle revisits much of her past, some of that past which has long been buried even before Sage and Judy. Elle and Sage may also, in the process, come to a better understanding of each other and their dysfunction with Judy. —Huggo Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid (Tomlin) has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage (Garner), shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future.

An international thief is on the loose, stealing treasured artifacts and the famous Pink Panther diamond. Inspector Closseau (Steve Martin) is assigned to a team of international investigators, who are just as clumsy as he is. Featuring alongside are John Cleese, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and Aishwarya Rai.

A kid who hates ants, Lucas Nickle (voice of Zach Tyler Eisen), finds himself living among them. His family has just moved to a new town, but Lucas isn`t enjoying it much. To make matters worse, the local bully has found Lucas and is making his life miserable, so the boy looks for someone he can push around -- and he soon finds a large colony of ants in his yard. Lucas takes out his frustrations by stomping, drowning, and burying the bugs, little realizing the ants see him as a threat to their safety and aren`t about take his attacks lying down. Zoc (voice of Nicolas Cage) is a ``wizard ant`` who creates a formula that shrinks Lucas to the size of an insect, and the tiny boy is brought before the leader of the Ant Council (voice of Ricardo Montalban) and the Queen of the Colony (voice of Meryl Streep) to answer for his crimes against the ants. Showing compassion, the queen sentences Lucas not to death, but to live among them and see how difficult their circumstances can be. From here, Lucas also gathers courage and support to put up a fight against the diabolic bully, Stan!

Shaun Brumder is an A student and class president at Vista Del Mar High School in Orange County, California. It has always been his desire to go to Stanford. He lives in a nice house with his mom Cindy who married a second time, and although Bob has money, he is now in a wheelchair and heavily medicated so he can hardly function. His loser brother Lance lives with them. At the start of the movie Shaun is narrating. He is actually reading the letter he is sending along with his book "Orange County" to Stanford professor Marcus Skinner, who wrote the book "Straight Jacket" which Shaun found on the beach and read many times. It changed his life and inspired him to become a writer. The audience sees flashbacks of events recalled by Shaun. Although he does very well in school, Shaun has one weakness. When his friends Lonny, Arlo and Chad want to go surfing, he goes with them. It doesn't matter how important other activities are. And on April 15 the group just has to take advantage of these killer waves. Lonny's funeral follows. One morning Lupe is fed up with being bossed around by Shaun's mom, who does little other than drink, and she decides to quit. Shaun persuades her to stay, speaking in Spanish so his mom won't understand. Bob needs his pills. After the audience sees Shaun find the book that changes his life, Shaun sends the letter. Lance, lying on the floor, gets bumped by Shaun opening a door. He asks Shaun to provide him with urine so he will pass a test required by his parole officer. At school, Shaun's girlfriend Ashley tells Principal Harbert that she wants to help save animals affected by an environmental disaster. Time has passed. It is the anniversary of Lonny's death and Shaun and his friends want to do something special. In English class, Mr. Burke announces they will be studying "Romeo and Juliet". Lonny's girlfriend and shallow cheerleader Tanya just can't. She's still grieving. Then class is interrupted by a female student telling Tanya she got into Stanford. Tanya's depression mysteriously disappears. Shaun drops everything and calls Lance on his cell phone. Shaun tells Lance to check the mail, and Shaun rushes home to find a thin envelope. Having been rejected by the one school he applied to, Shaun goes to guidance counselor Ms. Cobb and demands to know what happened. Ms. Cobb doesn't remember that she talked to Shaun earlier or even that Shaun is a student. In a previous scene she said he was definitely getting into Berkeley, and Shaun had to correct her. Ms. Cobb calls up the transcript on her computer and sees Shaun has a 2.5 GPA and a 970 SAT score. Shaun knows this is wrong and looks at the transcript. It is Shane Brainard's. Meanwhile, a clearly inadequate Shane announces to his friends he applied to Stanford as a joke and actually got in. Shaun blames Ms. Cobb for sending the wrong transcript and nearly attacks her. Shaun leaves the building walking right through a group of cheerleaders dancing to "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. What to do? Shaun's father Bud is very rich and he could donate money to Stanford and get Shaun in. He and Ashley drive to Bud's huge mansion on the Pacific Coast Highway where toddler Jake is misbehaving and his mom Krista, wearing a bikini, can't control him so she asks Rosa to. Krista invites Shaun in but his father is yelling at someone on the phone. When Shaun talks to Bud, Bud indicates he won't do anything to help because Shaun is throwing away his life. Bud says even though he fears his health isn't good and he may not have much time left, he will devote all his energy to keeping his business going so he can leave it to Shaun. Meanwhile, Krista is making out with Jorge, and Ashley, who waited in the car, rescues a dog which is about to get run over. Ashley admits she wants Shaun to go to Orange County University with her. She is going to study marine biology there and she is afraid they won't be able to stay together otherwise. There is another way. How could someone like Tanya get in to Stanford? Her grandfather Arthur Gantner is an official there. Ashley tells Tanya what she knows about her. The audience sees flashbacks of Tanya in bed with a guy at a Halloween party and several other incidents Tanya would rather not make public, including one after Lonny's funeral. Soon, Shaun has just minutes to prepare for a home visit from Mr. and Mrs. Gantner. Shaun has to get his mother to change into clothes that make her look presentable, and he tells Lance to stay hidden. The Gantners arrive and Shaun welcomes them, and tells them how much he wants to go to Stanford, and everything Mr. Gantner needs to know in order to accept him. Shaun's mom comes in drinking and volunteering way too much information, including that Bud left her for a 20-year-old and the details of how she ended up with Bob. Some of the details are not appropriate for polite company. Lance comes in wearing only underpants and socks and asks where his urine sample is. Then he realizes the small glass beside Mrs. Gantner must be it. Arlo and Chad come to the door wanting Shaun to come surf, and announces they heard he tried to kill Ms. Cobb. And Bob needs his drugs. Somehow Lance, whose drugs are kept in aspirin and Tylenol bottles, got his drugs and Bob's drugs mixed up and sold Bob's drugs. The rescue dog also causes trouble. The Gantners have had enough and leave, and as Shaun is trying to change their minds, Bob in his wheelchair rolls down the stairs and bumps the car. Mr. Gantner says Shaun will never get into Stanford. What to do now? Lance says Shaun should just go to Stanford and pretend to be a student. And then Lance decides to drive him there in a Ford Bronco. Ashley comes along. Lance is not that good a driver, constantly getting distracted and almost hitting several cars. Bud comes over to his ex's house and admits he misses her and has sometimes driven to her house hoping they will get back together. They end up in bed. By the time the young people arrive at Stanford, it is long past dark, but Mona the receptionist is still in the admissions building. Amazingly, Shaun thinks he can ask to see the dean of admissions. Mona explains that is late and won't even give them information allowing them to talk to the dean at home. After they leave, Lance sneaks in, while Shaun and Ashley figure out they can find the dean's address. Dean Durkett's teenage daughters argue while his wife is busy packing for vacation. Shaun finally persuades Dean Durkett to look at his transcript and while Dean Durkett is impressed, he says it is too late for Shaun to get in. While the dean is out of the room, Ashley discovers she has Lance's aspirin and Tylenol bottles. The dean comes back and sees them and asks for something for his pain. Ashley is unaware of what she is giving the dean, and soon he is high and can be persuaded to do anything. Meanwhile, Lance started taking his clothes off in front of Mona, and after Mona has also taken her clothes off, Mona shows Lance the list of students who were accepted. Lance sets it on fire and throws it in the trash. When the dean, who can barely remember who he is, arrives with Shaun and Ashley, the building is in flames and Lance and Mona are leaving. A firefighter interrogates Lance, who claims he knows nothing and was just walking around the neighborhood. The firefighter soon has enough information to get Lance in trouble and Lance, Shaun and Ashley leave before they get arrested. Shaun and Ashley go their separate ways and Shaun meets Gretchen, who is reading Faulkner, and they have a conversation. Gretchen eventually invites him to a party at Alpha Rho Chi house. She introduces him to some other girls and then the whole group starts dancing to "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. Shaun goes upstairs and can see Ashley talking to Kip, who is good looking and intelligent. He falls off the balcony and he and Ashley get in an argument. Shaun sees Professor Skinner and tells him who he is. Skinner remembers him and says he was impressed by Shaun's book about his life and as they talk, Skinner says he thinks Shaun will be a good writer. Eventually Shaun is able to persuade Ashley to leave with him. With Lance back in the Bronco, they head home. Bud makes a large donation to Stanford for a new admissions building, but Shaun realizes he can stay in Orange County and be a writer. Bud announces he and Cindy will get back together. Shaun narrates the ending, where he buries his copy of Skinner's book on the beach hoping it will help someone else.

An orphaned Italian boy is raised amongst a circle of British and American women living in Mussolini's Italy before and during World War II. In 1935 a group of elderly British women, whom the Italians have named the Scorpioni, have chosen Italy, specifically Florence, as a place to live to blend their proper British sensibilities with their love of Italian art and culture. One of those Scorpioni, Mary Walsh (Dame Joan Plowright), works as the English secretary for Paolo Innocente (Massimo Ghini), who, in part because of his own wife's adamant refusal, largely neglects his illegitimate adolescent son, Luca (Baird Wallace), despite Paolo's want for Luca to grow up to be a proper young man, much like the English. Luca has lived in an orphanage since his dressmaker mother's death, death a concept that Luca does not yet understand. As such, he often runs away looking for his mother. On a mutual agreement between Paolo and Mary, Mary becomes Luca's guardian, she who will receive help in raising Luca by her fellow Scorpioni and financial help from Paolo as needed. Associated with the Scorpioni is a brash younger nouveau riche Jewish-American woman named Elsa Morgenthal (Cher), who, because of her affection for Luca's mother to whom she owed money, sets up a trust for Luca's future. Amongst the Scorpioni, Lady Hester Random (Dame Maggie Smith), the widow of the former ambassador to Italy, in particular and Elsa do not get along because of their fundamental outward differences. The life for the Scorpioni changes with the on-set of World War II, more specifically when Italy declares war on Britain and France. Despite all of the Scorpioni taken into custody of sorts by the Italians, they are eventually housed in the comforts of a hotel. Lady Hester wrongly believes it is her association with Mussolini (Claudio Spadaro) that has gotten them into their comfortable surroundings, but which in reality was arranged and paid for by Elsa. Luca, who has just returned to Italy after attending school in Austria, helps Elsa with her efforts to assist those persecuted in Italy. Luca, now a teenager, has fallen in love with Elsa. As such, Luca is jealous of Elsa's professional and personal relationship with Italian lawyer Vittorio Fanfanni (Paolo Seganti). Elsa's own situation becomes more precarious with the United States' entrance into the war, the Nazis' increasing persecution of Jews, and Luca discovering that Fanfanni has ulterior motives in his relationship with Elsa. Through it all, Mary still tries to be the voice of what is right to Luca, who may be tainted by his own immature teenaged thoughts during these difficult times. —Huggo Semi-autobiographical tale from the early life of Writer and Director Franco Zeffirelli looks at the illegitimate son of an Italian businessman. The boy's mother has died, and he is raised by an Englishwoman in pre-World War II Fascist Italy. Living to each other in Florence, and presided over by an ambassador's widow, a group of Englishwomen live a sheltered existence which they believe is guaranteed personal protection in a tea reception given by Il Duce (Claudio Spadaro). However, as war breaks out, the women are interned. Occasionally in this English colony is a wealthy American, who visits amongst her travels and marriages to wealthy older men. She respects the "Scorpioni", as they are known, and secretly arranges for their stay in a hotel. The ambassador's widow finds her vulgar and tries to ignore her, but when the United States enters the war, the American too is taken into custody. Only then does she discover that her Italian lover has tricked her into signing over all of her money and modern art collection to him, and is now arranging her execution. This obliges all to join forces. Georgie (Lily Tomlin) is an American archaeologist working at a dig in the city. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net> Semi-autobiographical tale from the early life of Writer and Director Franco Zeffirelli. An illegitimate child is raised by an Englishwoman in pre-World War II Fascist Italy, part of an English community in Florence presided over by a diplomat's widow. Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Armistan (Cher) is a wealthy American collector of modern art who visits these "Scorpioni" on occasion. —Dehlia

A richly funny behind-the-scenes look at the art of creating comedy. When celebrities need a hilarious punch line, they get Bruce Vilanch, the comic writer behind Hollywood's biggest events. Affectionate tribute to Bruce Vilanch (1948- ), who writes material for celebrities who make public appearances, from Oscar hosts and award recipients to Presidents. We meet his mom and see photos of his childhood; in Chicago, he writes for the Tribune and then heads West. Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and Bette Midler talk with him and to the camera about working with Bruce, and we also watch Bruce help others prepare for Liz Taylor's 60th, Bill Clinton's 50th, and an AIDS awards banquet where the hirsute, rotund Vilanch lets his emotions show.

Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) and his wife, Nancy (Patricia Arquette), live in New York, near Mel's neurotic, Hebrew, adoptive parents, Ed (George Segal) and Pearl Coplin (Mary Tyler Moore). Mel and Nancy have just had their first child, and they refuse to name their son until Mel can discover the identity of his biological parents. He assures her that once he knows who he really is, the right name for their boy will be a snap. Meanwhile Mel and Nancy's sex life has taken a brutal hit since the birth of their son. After an adoption agency employee locates his biological mother's name in a database, Mel decides to meet her personally. Tina (Tea Leoni), the sexy but highly incompetent adoption agency employee, decides to accompany Mel, Nancy, and the newborn on a trip to San Diego to meet Mel's biological mother. Tina is in the middle of a divorce; she is 30 years old and wants a baby of her own. Tina is finishing her dissertation (on the emotional and psychological impacts of the reunions) and will film the happy reunion of mother and child as part of her research. For this privilege, she's footing the bill. Mel's adoptive parents are left behind feeling abandoned by an ungrateful son. Ed says that his 60th birthday is coming up and he doesn't want Mel to miss it. Pearl cannot understand Mel's need to connect with his "roots", feeling that perhaps he feels that they were not good enough parents to him. The trip, of course, does not go as planned, and ends up becoming a tour of the United States. First, Mel is introduced to Valerie (Celia Weston), a blond Scandinavian woman with Confederate roots whose twin daughters are at least six inches taller than Mel. Valerie comes from an athletic family with Finnish and Scottish roots. They quickly realize that Valerie is not Mel's biological mother (as her son was born 2 years before Mel was born), and Tina scrambles to get the correct information from the agency database. Meanwhile, Nancy becomes jealous as Tina and Mel begin to flirt. Tina used to be an exotic dancer and that raises Nancy's anxiety further still. Tina and Mel playfully wrestle each other as Tina is into Indian wrestling as well. Next, the group heads to rural Michigan with the hope of meeting the man whose name appears as the person who delivered infant Mel to the adoption agency. The man, Fritz Boudreau (David Patrick Kelly), turns out to be a trucker with a violent streak. However, when he discovers that Mel might be his son, he becomes instantly friendly and lets Mel drive his semi-trailer truck, which Mel immediately crashes into a Post Office building. This leads to a run-in with two ATF agents, Tony (Josh Brolin) and Paul (Richard Jenkins), who are gay and in a relationship with each other. It is discovered that Tony and Nancy went to high school together. Charges are dismissed, and Fritz Boudreau tells Mel that he is not Mel's father, but only handled Mel's adoption because Mel's biological parents were incapacitated. Tina locates the current address of Mel's biological parents, which turns out to be in rural New Mexico. Tony and Paul surprise everyone by deciding to tag along on the trip. While Mel and Tina become close, Nancy finds herself flirting with Tony, who returns the compliment, causing friction. The trip through rural New Mexico is fraught with more problems. At last, the whole crowd descends on the front porch of Mel's true biological parents, Richard (Alan Alda) and Mary Schlichting (Lily Tomlin). They are asked to stay the night. While Richard and Mary are more than welcoming, Mel's biological brother Lonnie (Glenn Fitzgerald) is overly rude and jealous. It is during dinner that Mel discovers that Richard and Mary had to let Mel be adopted because they were in jail for making and distributing LSD in the late 1960s. Not only that, but Richard and Mary continue to manufacture LSD, as becomes apparent when Lonnie, in an attempt to dose Mel with acid at dinner, accidentally doses Paul, the ATF agent. In his drugged state Paul tries to arrest Richard and Mary but Lonnie knocks him out with a frying pan. They attempt to escape and decide to take Mel's car, hiding their supply of acid in the trunk. Mel's adoptive parents arrive but then change their minds and decide to leave, taking the wrong car. When they change their minds again and make a blind U-turn, the two families crash. Mel's adoptive parents are arrested while his biological parents escape to Mexico. Not realizing what has happened Mel recounts the stories from dinner to Nancy and they agree to name the baby Garcia. Called to the Sheriff's office to bail out Ed and Pearl, Mel refers to them as his parents, which they are surprised and happy to hear. The next day Paul explains the situation and is able to get Mel's parents released. A montage of each family's personal relationships - Mel and Nancy, Paul and Tony and their Tina-arranged adopted baby, Ed and Pearl, the three Schlichtings, and a very pregnant Tina - continues over the credits. Each family still have their troubles, but Mel and Nancy are happy together.

Brooklyn Cigar Store is a neighborhood hangout in Brooklyn with Auggie Wren/H.Keitel as center. Some people are interviewed about Brooklyn, spiced up with statistics on Brooklyn. Wayne Wang's follow-up movie to Smoke (1995) presents a series of improvisational situations strung together to form a pastiche of Brooklyn's diverse ethnicity, offbeat humor, and essential humanity. Many of the same characters inhabiting Auggie Wren's Brooklyn Cigar Store in Smoke (1995) return here to expound on their philosophy of smoking, relationships, baseball, New York City, and Belgian Waffles. Most of all, this is a movie about living life, off-the-cuff.

A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film. A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses. —R. John Berggren <jberg@nina.pagesz.net> The history of the portrayals of homosexuals in the movies, especially mainstream ones widely distributed in the United States, is presented, this topic important as movies were and are how audiences, the general public, heterosexual or homosexual, often learned about societal mores and norms. It has only been quite recent that homosexual characters could be the stars, they more often on the fringes. While such portrayals were more open in the early stages of movie making, they became more coded - the terms gay or lesbian never used - starting in what is considered the Golden Age of Hollywood, especially with the onset of the Hays Code and the Legion of Decency in the 1930s. In filling gender stereotypes, the gay male was the harmless effeminate - a source of humor - in making straight men more masculine and straight women more feminine, while lesbians, in their masculinity, were more sinister characters. As the restrictions through the Code and by the Legion became more relaxed, homosexual characters, now more openly so, became the unhappy, self-loathing, tragic figure that needed to meet a gruesome end, except when the homosexual nature was done in subtext. The character of the homosexual victim, a decade or so later, became the character of the societal menace. The more diverse characterizations over the past 10 to 15 years are discussed, as is the acceptance of general audiences to see two women being affectionate with each other compared to two men. —Huggo

At the law offices of Schuylar Mifflin, Roger Cobb (Steve Martin) is a lawyer with eleven years behind him, and no future ahead of him. He is running himself ragged working into the evening, and his cases are of no consequence because he has not committed to the practice. His true passion is playing guitar in the Fulton Norris (Gailard Sartain) Orchestra, and after falling asleep at his desk he comes to just in time to rush to a nightclub gig and perform his solo, but he eventually falls asleep again onstage. On the morning of his 38th birthday, his girlfriend Peggy Schuyler (Madolyn Smith) brings him an African grave post for a present. They discuss "the m word" briefly, but Roger seems disinterested in marriage. He is late to work at the law firm, which is her father's, and he was hired as a favor, in spite of being perceived as carrying on his family's misguided standards. On the way to the office, Roger and his canine companion Bix stop by a corner where their blind musician buddy Tyrone Wattell (Jason Bernard) is playing his saxophone for tips. Roger tells Tyrone he has decided to quit his gig and work on law full time. Tyrone tells him it is a mistake to give up his music, but wishes him well. At a palatial estate, Doctor Betty Ahrens (Peggy Feury) informs her frail millionaire patient Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) that after years of disability because of her chronic heart trouble, she is finally and truly dying. Edwina calls Schuyler Mifflin to speak with senior partner Burton Schuyler (Dana Elcar) to put her final affairs in order. Burton is having an affair with Gretchen (Neva Patterson), and he interrupts their merrymaking to take her call, as Gretchen informs him that his wife subpoenaed her to appear at the divorce hearing. Roger arrives at his office and his secretary Margot (Selma Diamond) reads off his client phone messages before he is summoned to Burton's office. Roger asks Burton for a partnership, saying he has quit the band and is buying a vest later in the day. Intrigued by his attitude, Burton sends him to the Cutwater estate to test his mettle, noting that if Roger is up to the task, his future in the firm is secure. Roger arrives to see Edwina in her wheelchair ordering her staff around, and she treats him as if he were a hired hand. When she learns who he is, she tells Roger she plans to leave her entire multi-million dollar estate to Terry Hoskins (Victoria Tennant), the vibrant daughter of the stable hand Fred Hoskins (Eric Christmas), and Roger will handle the paperwork. He also learns that Terry will actually inherit nothing, as Edwina has hired a guru named Prahka Lasa (Richard Libertini) to transport her soul into Terry's healthy body so she can have a chance at a normal life. Prahka speaks only parroted English and carries a metal bowl with him which will be a vessel for Edwina's soul when her death is imminent. Roger suggests that her will would be contested if she is not considered of sound mind, and Edwina, spoiled and used to getting her way, insults him. He declares her and her companions crazy, and Edwina slaps him, threatening to tattle to Burton about his undesirable behavior. When Roger talks back to her and leaves, Edwina issues orders to the staff for her car and jewelry to wear as she plans to go out. Terry tells Roger she is willing to give up everything to become one with the universe, but he scoffs. When Roger returns to the firm, Margot reveals that Edwina is already there in a board meeting with Burton and the firm's other partner Mr. Mifflin (Michael Ensign). The doctor, Terry and Prahka stand by as Edwina's attitude goads Roger into more arguing, but when Burton pulls him aside and they step out of the office, he laughs off the conflict and agrees that she must be out of her mind to believe in reincarnation. After Roger leaves, Edwina suddenly says she sees a bright light and collapses, while the doctor makes futile attempts to revive her and Prahka sets up the bowl on its stand and he and Terry begin chanting. The bowl spins atop its pole, then settles as if something were inside. During the confusion, the doctor pushes Burton and he bumps the vessel, which goes out the window. As the doctor declares they have lost Edwina, the bowl lands on Roger as he emerges from the building, hitting him in the head. He tries to get up from the pavement as Edwina's voice says she feels different. He stumbles as if his body were not his own. Looking in a car's side mirror, Roger is horrified to see Edwina staring back at him, and they realize that her soul has entered his body by accident. Bix barks at Roger, perceiving the change in his human companion. They struggle to walk properly, and it appears that Edwina is in control of his right side and he his left. Finally they manage to coordinate their gait and return to the building, but before they can go to the office to find Prahka and reverse the error, Roger realizes he needs to use the restroom. Mifflin sees that Roger seems to be acting strangely. The newly merged pair make their way to the men's room. At the urinal, Roger has to coordinate the act of relieving himself with Edwina, who has trouble using his right hand under her control, unfamiliar as she is with men's clothing and genitals. Her grip sends him staggering and in pain, but with coaching from Roger and resignation on Edwina's part, they manage the task. Behind them a curious Mifflin observes Roger speaking in a feminized mashup of Edwina's and his own voice, before she finally tells him that she can read his thoughts and they successfully and quietly finish their bathroom break. In the hallway, Roger admits to Mifflin he was talking to himself. Terry approaches as Mifflin leaves, and says Prahka has left. Burton calls Roger into his office to handle his own divorce case. He confesses that he originally cheated on his wife to comfort a grieving widow, but then so many women found him attractive that he could not stop, and he wants defense from somebody he can trust. Roger reluctantly agrees to take the case. Returning to his office, Edwina tells Roger to look for the phone number to the Ambassador Hotel where Prahka is staying. At the hotel, Prahka is out of his element, having lived his entire life in Tibet with no luxuries, but he discovers the toilet and flushes it just as Roger places the phone call, and the phone in the other room rings. Believing the flush causes the ringing, the curious Prahka operates the lever until the ringing stops when Roger hangs up. Peggy arrives at the office and overhears Roger as he and Edwina resume the argument aloud about the bathroom episode. Believing he is cheating on her, Peggy storms in and demands an explanation. Edwina overrides Roger and throws in her opinion as he tries to tell her what happened, and she mishears Roger as saying he had sex with the dead body of Edwina. She is also mad that he is siding with her father in the divorce case and gives him the ultimatum of either herself or his manhood. He picks the latter and Peggy leaves, saying their relationship is over. Determined to find Prahka, Roger tries to drive with Edwina, while Bix shows hostility toward her being in Roger's body, so he decides to not inconvenience his canine friend and drops the dog off with Tyrone for safekeeping. When Tyrone questions Roger, he relates what happened, and incredibly he believes him. Roger introduces Edwina to Tyrone, and she offers her right hand, forgetting it belongs to Roger. Tyrone kisses it and says he is happy to help because, though he considers Roger a bit strange, he is a true friend. At the memorial service for Edwina, the church is empty but for the presiding cleric and choir, but her oxygen provider and other health aid companies sent mail-grams of condolence. Roger falls asleep in the pew, and Edwina with him. After midnight Terry arrives, and he realizes that he has full control of his body while Edwina sleeps, and he tells Terry everything. She says that if she is going to surrender her body for Edwina, Roger could do her the favor of a last memorable night of passion, so they go to his place and start making love. Suddenly Edwina wakes up and is stunned to see what is happening, but Terry enjoys her retorts as a form of rough foreplay, even enjoying Edwina's attempts to spank her. Despite pleas from Roger, Edwina puts an end to the evening. Terry leaves, realizing that Edwina is indeed inside Roger. When Roger mentions that it was unfair to deprive him of happiness since nobody likely wanted to have sex with Edwina, she says she was always proud to have saved herself. She then breaks down and confesses that she had no friends in her lifetime, which explained the lack of attendees at her memorial. She tells a sad childhood story of a cruel clown who refused to perform for her, and of watching Terry doing all the things she could not as she watched from bed, miserable to be on the sidelines. They reach an understanding, and Roger lets her sleep while he studies the case for Burton. Next morning, after no sleep, Roger tries the hotel again, but Prahka simply ignores the phone and resumes flushing the toilet. Edwina exercises for a groggy Roger and helps him perform his morning routine, saying she looks forward to having a new body. Roger's court appearance is at 8:30 and the funeral is at 10:30, but Roger says he will work it out. At court Burton appears to be losing his case, and Roger falls asleep with Edwina unable to wake him, so she improvises, trying to speak in a lower voice and adapt male mannerisms, but she chooses rude behaviors like hawking and spitting, scratching his crotch and blowing a snot rocket, to the discomfort of the courtroom. She asks Burton about the expensive gifts he gave to the women he was accused of cheating with on his wife, saying that gifting clients was a commonplace business expense. The attorney for his wife says the money was from his personal and not the firm's account, placing the testimony in danger, so a stymied Edwina screams mentally to Roger to wake him up, and he startles back to consciousness. When he asks for and hears the repeat of the court clerk's notes, Roger triumphantly equates Burton's gifts to a perpetual gratuity based on the firm's success and his own salary, which equally supported his own wife in a consistently grand manner. The judge overrules the objection by the other attorney, but when Roger brags mentally to himself that none of Burton's women were clients, Edwina realizes the defense is unfair and blurts it out to the judge before Roger can stop her. Burton fires Roger, the judge fines him for contempt and has him tossed out of the room. Edwina says he is better off not being a lawyer who works against the ideals his family instilled in him, and while married to a woman like Peggy, but he is furious at his unraveled life. Terry puts Prahka into a taxi and pays the driver $200 to stay with him until he is aboard his late night flight back to Tibet. Roger meets her at the funeral, and Edwina sees that Roger has arranged for Tyrone and the orchestra to follow her hearse in an old fashioned New Orleans style procession. When Roger borrows a compact mirror from Terry he sees Edwina is crying with happiness, grateful for what she says is the best gift from the best friend she ever had. Terry demurs when Roger asks if Prahka will show up, and they go to the hotel to check on him. They end up trying again to make love until Edwina thinks of old nuns to kill the mood. Stepping into the restroom, Edwina says she doesn't want to sit in on their sexual exploits, but Roger convinces her to enjoy herself as she starts to pick up on the arousal that is starting to overwhelm their shared body. Prahka then returns from the airport unexpectedly, and upon seeing that Edwina is in Roger's body, he readies the bowl, but Terry dresses to leave, saying Roger must be crazy to think she will give up her body and the inheritance that she now owns. Upset that she made a mistake with Terry, Edwina asks Prahka to give Roger his body back, saying he can put her soul into another creature, but Roger is determined to help her, because his family instilled that sense of justice in him, and refuses. She enjoys being selfless for the first time in her life. Back at the Cutwater estate, Terry orders her father to shower and dress in a tuxedo for her party as the orchestra arrives with two new members-Roger and Prahka--and Bix in a guide harness with Tyrone. At rehearsal, Edwina admires Roger for being such a good musician, and says he should play full time, but she has trouble letting him play his guitar solo, and the rehearsal breaks up. Near the stables, Roger and Prahka wait for Terry to ride in and dismount her horse, and ambush her as Prahka puts Edwina in the bowl. Terry struggles with them, the horse kicks the bowl and it lands in a bucket of water. The bowl is dented, so Prahka needs to fix it before he can get Edwina out of the water, so Roger escapes and creates several distractions as Terry sends guards to pursue him. He puts the water into a glass pitcher, gives it to Tyrone, and refills the bucket with tap water, pausing sadly to see his own reflection in the mirror as Edwina is not with him, then runs with the guards in pursuit until he feigns clumsiness and dumps the bucket into some flowers. He then sees Terry with the pitcher. She pours the contents into a nearby flower bed and calls off the guards, saying Roger is no longer a threat. A sad Roger meets up with Tyrone, who apologizes for not being able to see when the pitcher was taken. Roger relates that he misses the old girl, and Tyrone answers with a retort in Edwina's voice, revealing that he drank the water with her in it. They find Prahka, who has fixed the bowl, and Roger asks Prahka to move Edwina out of Tyrone into him again, as he is the only safe place. The trio and Bix then approach the house after the party and try to sneak in, but Terry prepares a pistol when she hears noises and surprises them, leading them to another room while she tries to concoct a story before she does away with them. The room she chooses has Burton and Gretchen in it, and in the unexpected discovery a scuffle ensues and Roger wrests the gun from her. When Burton says she will be arrested for attempted murder, she says she refuses to surrender as it will be her third conviction and she will go to jail, so she bargains with Edwina. With Fred looking on, Prahka succeeds in placing Edwina into Terry's body, while Terry takes over the body of her favorite horse, whom Fred promises to look after for the rest of her life. In the grand hall, Edwina, now in Terry's body, tells Roger she is scared that now she has no excuses and has what she has always wanted. Roger says he has decided to give up law, and as they enter the ballroom floor he offers to teach her to dance. The mirror reflects the real Edwina sharing her first dance and new life with her new best friend.

The film opens outside of a grocery store, where a man is giving out samples of a new canned cheese product called "Cheese Tease", which nobody seems to enjoy eating. Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin) emerges from the store with her two young children, Jeff (Justin Dana) and Beth (Shelby Balik), along with their maid, Concepcion (Maria Smith). The man forces a sample of Cheese Tease on Pat, and on the way home a can of air freshener explodes inside the car, fogging everybody and making them gag. Once home, Pat greets her neighbor, Judith Beasley (also played by Lily Tomlin), a busybody type who is in charge of the neighborhood council. Judith makes Pat listen to her sales pitch for a line of female beauty products, and she leaves Pat with some samples. Pat's husband, Vance (Charles Grodin), is returning that night from a business trip. He works for an advertising agency that pushes all sorts of products. He gives Pat a new perfume, accidentally spilling it on her dress, and tells her that they need to come up with a name for the new product. Pat suggests "Sexpot", which Vance seems to like. That night, Pat's dress begins smoking, which Pat and Vance are unaware, and the next day it is missing. At a meeting, Vance pitches the idea of calling the perfume "Sexpot" at a meeting with the perfume's makers. His boss, Dan (Ned Beatty), thinks the idea is genius, and he hints that Vance could be up for a promotion. He gives Vance a new product to christen, a new glue. At home that night, Pat is hosting the neighborhood council meeting, at which Judith berates other neighbors for petty misbehavior. Concepcion accidentally drops a vase, and Vance uses the new glue to repair it. Chaos erupts, though, when Pat gets some of the glue on her fingers and ends up glued to other people and objects in the house. By this time, Pat and Vance have both noticed that Pat is smaller than she used to be. When she visits a doctor, she finds that she's two inches shorter than she normally is. As the days pass, the phenomenon continues, but Pat insists that she not be treated any differently than she ever was. She stands on things to reach the kitchen countertop, and goes about her daily routine, which seems to be preparing meals and buying products. Eventually she's referred to doctors at the "Kleinman Institute", particularly Dr. Eugene Nortz (Henry Gibson) and Dr. Ruth Ruth (Elizabeth Wilson), who tell her that the reason she is shrinking has to do with the various chemicals she's been exposed to through her household products. They tell her to go home and wait for them to come up with an antidote, which she does, but secretly they are part of an secret company called "The Organization for World Management". They intend to somehow make a "shrink serum" from her blood and use it in a plot to shrink the entire world into subservient miniatures. Meanwhile, Pat's celebrity begins to increase the more she shrinks. Judith convinces her to leave the house on a grocery store run, and she sits on the edge of the shopping cart like a child. When she starts feeling self conscious about the gawkers she attracts, Judith smuggles her out of the store in a shopping bag. Eager to tell her story about how household chemicals caused her to shrink, she accepts an invitation to appear on the Mike Douglas Show, a daytime talk show, but Dan convinces Vance that she shouldn't reveal the cause of her plight, lest they risk losing clients in the agency. Pat begrudgingly obeys and claims she doesn't know why she's shrinking. Eventually Pat's size has decreased so much that she moves into a doll house that her family gives her for Christmas, along with a wardrobe of doll-sized clothing. She begins to lose control of her life due to her size; she can't control the kids anymore, her sex life with Vance disappears, and she has a hard time doing the household chores that she used to do, like cooking family meals. The evil doctors enlist Dan to help them lure the unsuspecting Pat into a position where they can exploit her, and at one point they make her a lucrative offer to be a spokesperson for more household products, but Pat refuses on principle. Finally they decide to kidnap Pat, and they get their chance the next morning when a freak mishap occurs. As she helps Concepcion prepare breakfast, Pat has an argument with Vance and the kids. Desperate after they leave, she loses her footing while standing on the kitchen counter and falls into the sink, landing in the garbage disposal. Concepcion comes back to the kitchen and starts cleaning up, shoving food into the garbage disposal and nearly drowning Pat with it. She almost turns on the disposal, but is interrupted by the doorbell, a distraction that the kidnappers use to gain entrance to the house through the back door. Pat manages to climb out of the garbage disposal and leaves one of her doll shoes behind. After the goons from The Organization for World Management kidnap her, Concepcion returns to the kitchen, only seeing Pat's shoe in the sink after she turns on the garbage disposal. Everyone assumes Pat is dead, and they hold a funeral service for her in the back yard, where they bury her shoe in a matchbox. In reality, Pat has been taken to a secret underground lab, where she is kept in a rat cage while the doctors study her. She shares space in the lab with a caged gorilla named Sidney (Rick Baker), who is extremely intelligent and seems to understand both spoken English and sign language. A lab assistant named Rob (Mark Blankfield) tells Pat that the doctors have told him that she's really just a clone of the real Pat Kramer, who they say is dead. Pat tries to tell him this isn't true, but he doesn't believe her. With Sidney's help, she does manage to gain access to a file folder on the table near her cage, where she reads all about her case and discovers the nefarious plans to shrink the world. Pat maneuvers her way to a telephone, again with Sidney's help, and manages to make a frantic phone call to Vance. Vance becomes hysterical upon learning that Pat has been kidnapped, but the doctors cut the phone call short when Dan tips them off that Pat has made communciation with the outside world Rob enters the lab and sees Pat making the call, but she manages to convince Rob that her story is true by showing him the top secret plans she found in the file folder. Rob bolts from the lab, but Pat and Sidney hear gunshots and fear Rob is dead. Pat is now trapped underneath a funnel, while Vance goes on national television and tells the world that Pat is alive and has been kidnapped. Pat and Sidney are overjoyed when Rob returns, still alive, and helps them escape. After a lengthy chase where numerous armed guards pursue them and fire at them, they manage to make it to the surface and exit the lab, which happens to be located underneath the very shopping center Pat used to patronize. The guards give chase, and the disruption causes shoppers to collide, resulting in a large puddle of laundry detergent and other household liquids. The guards back off when Rob gets the attention of the police, stomping on their feet so they will arrest him. Sidney deposits Pat on a table near the Cheese Tease man's microphone, where she gets everyone's attention over a loudspeaker. Judith is there too, holding a demonstration outside the supermarket, and everyone is stunned to see Pat still alive. She gives a brief speech where she says she felt like she had to warn everyone about the threat from corporations and products, but she says "You don't really need me to tell you what's wrong with the world." She tells Rob to make sure the secret plans get into the hands of the authorities. Already only a few inches tall, Pat begins to shrink away to nothing, and Vance and the children arrive just in time for her to say goodbye to them before she seems to vanish, the tiny garment she wore blows away in the breeze, landing in the puddle of liquids near the table. The onlookers are mortified, especially Pat's family and friends. Unseen by anybody, the puddle begins to swirl, seemingly on its own. Later that night, in a tribute to Pat, countries around the world simultaneously salute her with church bells, the news programs giving coverage and linking via satellite. Outside the Kramer residence, a police car discreetly pulls up and an officer comes to the front door, saying "This lady says she belongs here." A normal-sized Pat bursts inside, ecstatic to be home. The family is shocked and elated, and Concepcion screams and collapses. Sidney is at the house, too, and the kids tell her Vance said it would be alright if he lived with them. Pat babbles that the puddle seems to have reversed the shrinking process, returning her to her normal size. Vance tries to put her wedding ring back on, but it won't fit, and as she contemplates this, the shoe she is wearing suddenly bursts as her foot seems to enlarge all on its own. Pat gives a cryptic smile--apparently she's not done growing.

A grumpy semi-retired private investigator partners with a quirky female client to catch the people who murdered his partner. Ira Wells is an aged retired Los Angeles, California based private investigator who comes out of retirement when his former partner, Harry Regan, shows up on his doorstep with a bullet wound to the gut and dies. Ira determines to find out who killed Harry and is then contacted by another long-time acquaintance, Charlie Hatter (a down-on-his luck Hollywood hack/bartender) about Harry's last case. Harry's client was Margo Sterling, a former client of Charlie's who is a flaky, penniless new-age actress, agent, and dress maker. She hired Harry to retrieve her missing cat, Winston, who is being held ransom by an acquaintance named Brian Hemphill who stole Winston because Margo was late on paying back a loan. Amidst all this, Ira has to figure out what would be the reason for someone to kill Harry. —Huggo / Hans Delbruck