"It's a fun and funny movie that delivers an honest portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship and the heartache that comes not just from losing someone but from moving on after they're gone." - L.A. Weekly
"Susan Sarandon is a star shining on her highest beams. Only a fool would want to miss those fireworks. So check out 'The Meddler,' in which Sarandon dives into her juiciest role in years as Marnie Minervini, a New Jersey widow who travels to Los Angeles to be near her screenwriter daughter Lori (the ever-amazing Rose Byrne). Why? The title would indicate it's to meddle, which translates into calls, texts, showing up unannounced, snooping into Lori's browsing history and co-opting her friends. But the gifted writer-director Lorene Scafaria is after something far less clichéd and more nuanced.
"Carving her script out of her relationship with her own mother, Scafaria turns 'The Meddler' into a hilarious and heartfelt tribute to mothering. Marnie can be irritating, for sure, but she's also force of nurture. When her daughter insists on setting boundaries, the generous-to-a-fault Marnie looks for others in need.
"There's Freddy, the Apple store genius she befriends, and Jillian (SNL's Cecily Strong), the lesbian mom whose wedding Marnie plans and pays for without quite remembering Jillian's name. Marnie is clueless about herself until, well, she isn't. Watching Sarandon chart Marnie's slow-growing self awareness is a thing of beauty. You might think that the new man in her life, a chicken-raising, ex-cop named Zipper, smacks of sitcom convenience. But wait till you see the great J.K. Simmons inhabit the role, which he does with a sexy charm and tenderness.
"The reliably expert Byrne plays it tough and true. But 'The Meddler' belongs to Sarandon, a famously no-bull actress who digs in deep, showing us how moms aren't one thing, they're all things. How else can they make you laugh from love and cry from crazy? 'The Meddler' knows how. Listen up." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone