“Eleanor the Great” marks the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. She cast it well. Her lead actor is nonagenarian force of nature, June Squibb, last seen in “Thelma,” one of 2024’s best movies. Squibb is a likable presence, and she’s an expert at delivering a well-timed quip. Who wouldn’t cast her with that skillset? Screenwriter Tory Kamen’s script gives her several opportunities to ply her trade as the film’s titular ode to greatness, Eleanor.

Judging by my star rating, you shouldn’t be surprised that the rest of this review isn’t going to be as complimentary as that opening paragraph. As I said in my Toronto International Film Festival coverage, “Eleanor the Great” is one of the worst and most distasteful movies I’ve seen in a long while. My old boss, Roger Ebert, once advised me to save the zero star rating for reviews of films I found morally reprehensible. He also advised it for films that had no redeeming value whatsoever.

A great piece of advice I learned from Roger’s reviews was that great movies can be made from troubling or controversial topics. However, success or failure hinges on how the movie handles that topic. With its plot about a woman who passes herself off as a Holocaust survivor, I found that “Eleanor the Great” satisfied the morally reprehensible clause. Indeed, it deserves zero stars because it’s so poorly executed that it renders its subject matter even more offensive than it might have been under better circumstances.

June Squibb as Eleanor Morgenstein in “Eleanor the Great.”Sony Pictures Classics

But as the woman who steals the story of her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar), who is a Holocaust survivor, Squibb is so good that she warranted some kind of acknowledgement. So, that one star is almost entirely for her. She somehow rises above this shockingly naïve movie that repeatedly fails to examine the consequences of its protagonist’s actions. The film is so terrified that you’ll think ill of this sweet little old lady liar that it is doomed by its cowardice.

As a first time director, Johansson does not know how to handle the wild tonal shifts this movie takes. She opts to shoot everything the same bland way. While she bears some of the responsibility for this misfire, she shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame. I don’t think a legendary director like Ernst Lubitsch could have saved this screenplay; one minute it’s a mistaken-identity comedy, the next minute it’s a harrowing drama featuring a monologue about how Bessie’s family suffered and her brother was killed by the Nazis.

The mistaken identity part comes after Eleanor moves to Manhattan to stay with her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and her grandson, Max (Will Price). Her relocation from Florida comes after Bessie’s death. The two women were inseparable, and Eleanor is the only person Bessie told about her past. When she accidentally joins a Jewish seniors group that’s intended for Holocaust survivors, she passes Bessie’s story off as her own. Her rationale? She’s lonely and has finally made some new friends.

June Squibb as Eleanor Morgenstein and Erin Kellyman as Nina in “Eleanor the Great.”Sony Pictures Classics

At that group meeting, Eleanor also befriends a young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who is there to interview people for her class paper. Nina is drawn to Eleanor because her mother, a Jewish woman, passed away recently. Her television newscaster dad, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), has gone numb with grief. Eleanor is the only person Nina can talk to who understands the recent loss of someone near and dear.

Nina is also inspired by Eleanor’s desire to finally get the bat mitzvah she was denied decades before while growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. She also admires her new friend’s refusal to be sent to a senior citizen’s home. Once Roger reads Nina’s class paper on Eleanor, he’s interested in covering her story for a TV news segment. I imagine anyone who went to J-school will be pulling out their hair over how poorly both Nina and her dad do their research.

The accumulation of lies should lead to an explosive revelation. But “Eleanor the Great” chickens out before finally destroying itself with the scene that truly makes it vile. Had the movie ended a scene earlier, I’d just dismiss this movie as a bad one. But Johansson and company make a beeline for your tear ducts, and the result is disastrous. I commend Zohar’s performance of the monologue in this scene, but the rest of it shows the enormity of a story Eleanor did not have the right to tell, let alone commandeer. It’s not Zohar’s fault that the film doesn’t have the chutzpah to deal honestly with Eleanor’s lies.

★

ELEANOR THE GREAT

Directed by Scarlett Johansson. Written by Tory Kamen. Starring June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Erin Kellyman, Rita Zohar, Jessica Hecht, Will Price. At Coolidge Corner, AMC Boston Common, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, suburbs. 98 min. PG-13 (language)

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.