There is a lovely story of friendship, grief and starting over at the heart of “Eleanor the Great.” The film, directed by Scarlett Johansson in her feature debut, gets tangled in a plot contrivance that is, at best, unnecessary and at worst, loathsome.

That’s the problem with the elevator pitch mentality, though. A story about a 90-something trying to make friends in a new city might sound a little too simple, a little too straightforward. What if she does so by pretending to be a Holocaust survivor? I’m not kidding.

Eleanor is played by June Squibb (the great). At 94-years-old, she has moved from Florida to New York after the death of her best friend and roommate Bessie (Rita Zohar). Her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and grandson, Max (Will Price), have taken her into their small Manh

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