A 1981 American sci-fi comedy directed by Joel Schumacher that has a housewife (Lily Tomlin) growing smaller and smaller after being exposed to chemicals found in cosmetics and household products.
The movie also stars Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson, Elizabeth Wilson, Mark Blankfield, Pamela Bellwood, and John Glover.
The Incredible Shrinking Tropes:
- 15 Minutes of Fame: Pat's condition causes her to become famous and she appears on talk shows to discuss it.
- Birdcaged: When Pat is a few inches high she gets captured by a Mad Scientist who takes her to his laboratory and places her inside a small cage meant for lab mice.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Dan Beame, Vince's boss at the cosmetics company. He tries to cover up that his company's new perfume can cause people to shrink. He's later revealed to be part of a cabal that is attempting to take over the world.
- Covered in Gunge: The increasingly tiny Pat falls into a garbage disposal. It gets worse when the maid, who is oblivious to the situation because she's listening to a radio very loudly, starts scarping off the plates into the disposal.
- Face Death with Dignity: Towards the end of the film as Pat shrinks down to a microscopic level she maintains her composure as she bids farewell to her loved ones.
- The Fundamentalist: Judith Beasley, Pat's neighbor, is a positive example. She objects to modern life and it's rampant consumerism. When Pat begins shrinking due to all the additives and chemicals in modern life she starts helping Pat around the house and becomes her confidant during a difficult time.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Pat's daughter is unable to hear her mother screaming because she is wearing headphones - although, somehow, she is still able to hear the phone ringing. (Truth in Television, for some reason, while you can't hear voices through headphones, telephones go right through them.}
- Here We Go Again!: The movie ends with Pat, restored to normal size, hearing the sound of fabric tearing. She looks down to see her (growing) foot break out of her shoe, smiles, and rolls her eyes as if to say it.
- Housewife: Pat Kramer. As she shrinks smaller and smaller it becomes increasingly difficult for her to perform her homemaking duties and she has to rely on friends and neighbors for help.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Pat Kramer is a middle class, suburban housewife who one day begins shrinking smaller and smaller due to a combination of exposure to an experimental perfume and from various household chemicals that her body has absorbed over the years.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Gibson and Dr. Ruth. They kidnap Pat to study her to see if they can replicate what's causing her to shrink so they can use it to take over the world.
- Not Enough to Bury: The Mad Scientist who kidnaps Pat fakes her death to make it look like she fell into the garbage disposal, leaving a single shoe behind. Her family, thinking she's dead, then buries the tiny shoe in a matchbox.
- Sexless Marriage: As the tiny Pat struggles onto the bed next to her full-sized husband, she pauses to look at the book he's been reading; Marriage Without Sex.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Pat shrinks until even a small pouch that she wears as clothing is all that's left of her.
- Tinkle in the Eye: In a variant, Pat is nearly drowned in an unfortunate close encounter with a "Betsy Wetsy" doll.
