"I'll See You in My [Pipe] Dreams"

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Rhea Perlman and Blythe Danner in I'll See You in My Dreams

In I'll See You in My Dreams (2015), Blythe Danner plays Carol, a retired schoolteacher whose husband Bill, a lawyer, died in a plane crash 20 years before the film begins. Carol lives a tranquil existence in a comfortable home in Southern California. Her usual activities are watching TV while drinking wine, and playing golf or bridge with her gal pals who live in a nearby retirement home. 

The film begins with Carol putting her dog down, leaving a hole in her life. A rat soon appears in her house, leading to an encounter with her young pool guy Lloyd (Martin Starr), whom she enlists to scout out her unwelcome visitor. The mismatched (age-wise) couple bond over a shared love of music, and he rekindles her interest in singing, taking her out to a karaoke bar where she sings "Cry Me a River" while her young friend looks on adoringly. Meanwhile, another Bill, played by Sam Elliott, appears to sweep her off her feet with fancy wine-filled dinners in a restaurant or on his boat. 

June Squibb takes a toke from a vaporizer

All this seems to cause a re-examination of life by Carol. When her bridge buddy Sally (Rhea Perlman) asks if she wants a refill on her chardonnay, Carol instead asks, "Do you have any more of that medical marijuana?" Sally brings out a vaporizer and the gals indulge, lead by the game-for-anything Georgina (June Squibb), who announces she knows how to use the device, takes a big hit, and remarks, "Oh man, oh jeez, that's great." The brash-yet-timid Rona (Mary Kay Place, who puffed with William Hurt in "The Big Chill") also joins in the fun, boogying down to "Groovin" while Carol has a stare-down with an owl-shaped cookie jar in the kitchen. and Sally acts as the down-to-earth guide. The foursome heads out to the local minimart for a junk food run, and while heading home with a shopping cart, encounter a cute young cop (Reid Scott) who lets them go despite their strange behavior.

Danner, who was 70 when she starred in I'll See You, won the 1970 Tony award for her role in "Butterflies Are Free" (played by Goldie Hahn in the movie). She's had a long film career (1776, The Last of the Belles, Alice) and won back-to-back Emmys in 2005 and 2006 for her role as Hank Azaria's mother in "Huff" (an interesting show in which Azaria and Angelica Houston play pot-smoking psychiatrists that was cancelled before Danner could make her second acceptance speech). Her role in I'll See You in My Dreams scored her a Satellite Award nomination from the International Press Academy. Danner's daughter Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted to vaping and power-puffed in "The Politician." 

Danner stares down an owl in "I'll See You in My Dreams"

Sam Elliott went on to smoke a joint with Lily Tomlin in Grandma and reads a mock marijuana ad (with that killer deep voice of his) while smoking with his dealer played by Nick Offerman in The Hero, both released in 2017. He played a redneck rancher formerly married to the pot-puffing Debra Winger in the Netflix series "The Ranch."

Writers on I'll See You include two men and Isabelle Hope Dane, whose film Perfect High also released in 2015 tells the story of a teenager who goes from prescription drug sharing to heroin addiction. Though it's kind of a girls' romp, one wonders if the ending would have been happier in role reversal. Carol's new Bill also dies suddenly, and she leaves the mutual attraction between her and Lloyd unconsummated, even after he catches her rat and sings her a sweet song he wrote about loss leading to the film's title. In the end, Carol adopts a new, older dog and apparently lives happily ever after with her canine companion, as the girls plan a vacation cruise to Iceland.