Stephen Schiff

“…. Putting Fonda, Tomlin, and Parton together must be one of the most appealing casting ideas since Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable heated up How to Marry a Millionaire. And it works. Fonda plays straight man (or is that straight person?) to Tomlin's comic: Fonda asks the dumb questions while Tomlin dispatches the nasty one-liners. And then in walks Parton, a wonderful, swaying cartoon of feminity. 

 “…. But there is also Lily Tomlin, a superb comic actress who sheds a glow that nearly obscures this movie's shortcomings. As Violet, Tomlin manages to turn secretarial competence into a higher virtue: you can see her mentally filing each successive disaster, sending memos from one part of her brain to another, tackling an emergency and putting the next one on hold. It's a terrific performance: the controlled craziness in Tomlin's eyes reflects the absurdity that every secretary faces in every office in the world.”

-- Stephen Schiff, Boston Phoenix, December 23, 1980