The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher in his directing debut, written by Jane Wagner, and starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover, and Elizabeth Wilson. A parody of the 1957 science-fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man, it is credited as based on Richard Matheson's 1956 novel, The Shrinking Man. The original music score was composed by Suzanne Ciani.

Pat Kramer of Tasty Meadows is an ordinary suburban housewife and mother of two children Beth and Jeff. Her husband Vance is an advertising executive. After exposure to an experimental perfume and other chemicals from Vance's company, she begins to shrink, gradually at first, then rapidly.

A few weeks pass and Pat has shrunk to the height of Beth and Jeff. Eventually, she becomes a celebrity of sorts, appearing on The Mike Douglas Show, and captures the hearts of the American people. Soon, she is less than a foot tall, forcing her to move into a dollhouse.

Pat is kidnapped by a group of mad scientists, who make it seem that she perished in the kitchen garbage disposal. They plan to shrink everyone in the world by performing experiments on her to learn her secret. With the help of Rob, a kind young lab custodian and a super-intelligent gorilla named Sidney, she escapes.

Speaking of her escape to a crowd of people, Pat continues to shrink, saying her goodbyes before becoming microscopic in size. Vanishing from sight, she is again presumed dead, but in fact she falls into a puddle of spilled household chemicals - which return her to her original size. After her homecoming celebrating her returning to a normal size she notices that her wedding ring is now too tight while her foot is splitting her shoe open, suggesting she might still be growing.

Lily Tomlin plays four characters in this film: lead character Pat Kramer; her neighbor Judith Beasley (a character derived from Tomlin's live shows); Tomlin's Laugh-In characters Ernestine (a telephone operator); and Edith Ann, (a little girl - seen only in the TV version of the film). The film reunited Lily Tomlin with fellow Laugh-In cast member Henry Gibson. Lily Tomlin and Elizabeth Wilson previously appeared together in 9 to 5 (1980) as Violet Newstead and Roz Keith, respectively.

Rick Baker, who plays Sidney the Gorilla in the film, was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Makeup for An American Werewolf in London (1981) when the category was first introduced at the 54th Academy Awards in 1982. Baker's career, especially his early fascination with gorillas and his work in three movies featuring them, is told in the TV documentary Gorillas: Primal Contact (2002). Actor Dick Wilson plays a fussy supermarket manager, much like his famous Charmin tissue TV commercial character, Mr. Whipple. The film's writer, Jane Wagner, is Tomlin's wife and frequent collaborator.

The film started principal photography in February 1979 with John Landis directing but was suspended after a few days, with the reason stated as budget issues. Production resumed August 13, 1979, with Joel Schumacher replacing Landis. According to Landis, on an episode of Shock Waves Podcast, he wanted a trailer in theaters "one year before Shrinking Woman comes out" featuring Alfred Hitchcock in silhouette. The trailer would have Hitchcock speaking to the camera: "Good evening, work is underway here at Universal Studios in Hollywood on potentially the most important motion picture of all time - The Incredible Shrinking Woman starring Lily Tomlin." At this point, Hitchcock would uncup his hands from his desk, and a miniature-sized Tomlin would appear underneath.