By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Eleanor the Great (USA, 2025. Dir: Scarlett Johansson): It’s a tale as old as time, the big-time actor trying their hand at directing. Recently, we watched Chris Pine crash and burn in the godawful Poolman and Dev Patel killing it in Monkey Man. They both swung for the fences.

Scarlett Johansson takes a safer approach in Eleanor the Great, a tolerable dramedy with a weak script but a strong lead. At 95, June Squibb improbably scores her second starring role as the titular Eleanor, a cantankerous old woman who, following the passing of her roommate, finds herself forced to live with her daughter in New York.

Fiercely independent and a strong believer in straight talk, Eleanor rubs everybody the wrong way. At least until she finds kindred spirits at a Holocaust survivors’ support group. Mind you, Eleanor never spent a day at a death camp, but lived for decades with an Auschwitz prisoner and felt that she would have liked her stories to be heard.

Movie trope law dictates the small lie must become a boulder by midpoint. Key to the process is Nina (Erin Kellyman, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), the grieving daughter of a journalist (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who’s writing an article on the survivors group. Nina and Eleanor become fast friends, but the deception that sparked their relationship is bound to rear its ugly head sooner or later.

There’s nothing particularly original about Eleanor the Great: the story beats can be predicted down to the minute and the dialogue is often cringeworthy. Thankfully, Johansson’s instincts are on point and she allows June Squibb to set the tone. The nonagenarian carries the movie with remarkable ease and makes the most maudlin of speeches work.

As for Johansson, one can only hope for more challenging material for her next effort. I mean, how hard is it to get behind a funny old lady going through something. ★★★☆☆

Eleanor the Great is now playing in theatres everywhere.