The Meddler

Susan Sarandon is the titular busybody, a widow of a wealthy husband with nowhere to spread her inherited riches, ignored by her exasperated single daughter (Rose Byrne) and habitually paired off with sweaty schmoes symbolized by Michael McKean. Cut off by her daughter, Sarandon’s Marnie sticks her nose elsewhere, befriending an Apple Store staff member (because it’s just fun when they work the product placement into the plot) and romancing a retired cop played by J.K. Simmons (getting a rare shot at the Sam Elliott role, bushy white mustache and all, and totally nailing it). Writer-director Lorene Scafaria made The Meddler as a tribute to her own mother, but for every moment of cut-to-the-bone truth and sharp wit there is a matching scene of low-brow comedy like the one where Sarandon eats an entire bag of raw marijuana flowers and then gets crazy high, even though that’s not how that works. D.B.