- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: May 8, 2015
Critic Reviews
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In almost every way Grace And Frankie steps up its game for its second season. Though many of the changes are subtle, they result in a season far more worthy of Tomlin and Fonda’s considerable talents.
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Grace and Frankie might be tripping and stumbling down the path of their golden years, but at least Grace and Frankie itself is showing some sense of gracefully aged--if predictably presented--wisdom.
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Their characters may be distilled a little too directly from their past roles, and they can’t always bring the more ponderous dialogue to life--Ms. Tomlin sometimes seems to be reciting it in a trance. But when they’re together onscreen, they appear to be having a lot of fun, which is infectious.
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That balance of gimmicky and profound undulates throughout the season. ... But the cuckoo is stitched together by the heft of Fonda and Tomlin’s performances and the intimacy of the writing when the show manages to take a step back and give the characters a beat for self-analysis.
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At a time when series like Transparent and Getting On have explored later-in-life identity crises with greater depth, it’s hard to watch these women’s serious problems defused with sad spinster humor. Vin Diesel aside, the problem isn’t that Grace and Frankie are old and out of touch. It’s that the show is.
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Grace and Frankie has become, therefore, a show about letting go of grudges, being more accepting, and enjoying life--all very good sentiments that surface rarely in most other current sitcoms. Still, there’s the matter of actually being funny, which the show is, most of the time, not. At its worst, G&F goes for that most obvious of current sitcom clichés.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 39 out of 50
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Mixed: 5 out of 50
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Negative: 6 out of 50
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Feb 24, 2017
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May 16, 2016
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May 16, 2016