Directed by: Kyle Marvin.
Starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field, Tom Brady, Glynn Turman, Bob Balaban, Ron Funches, Jimmy O. Yang, Sara Gilbert, Alex Bentley, Harry Hamlin, Guy Fieri, Billy Porter, Rob Gronkowski, Pason, and Patton Oswalt.
Four best friends who live life to the fullest take a wild road trip to Super Bowl LI 2017 to see their hero Tom Brady play.
80 for Brady is the latest film in the adult adventure subgenre, which continues to be littered with one-offs that would rather use the material for cheap laughs and sweet drama, pretending to think ahead of our perception of old people rather than take the story seriously and find something beautifully touching in the characters and their wiles.
There’s no reason that a group of older women can’t get together every Sunday during the NFL season to cheer on their favorite team and players (in this case, it’s Tom Brady in his New England Patriots days as they prepare for Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons ) in the same way that bandits have been doing it since the dawn of sport. It happened; the movie is based on a true story (albeit greatly exaggerated.) Similarly, it’s okay if they want to lust after one of the players while enjoying the spectacle and brutality of the sport, the same way men might lust after cheerleaders. The underlying plot of 80 for Brady comes from an intriguing place that could tackle ageism, gender expectations and sexuality in a fresh way, but that’s too challenging for director Kyle Marvin and screenwriters Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, who opt for broad comedy. tired situational humor, and writing clichés.
With four magnetic veterans in the cast (Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Rita Moreno), there’s some chemistry here. However, everything about the plot is undercooked and modernized, diminishing any chance of investment in these characters as they realize their dream of traveling to the Super Bowl to see the New England Patriots win a championship.
There is a basic feature of each of them; supporting Lou (Lily Tomlin) through chemotherapy brought them together and inadvertently turned them into football fans during Tom Brady’s rookie season. As such, she perceives their dynamic as the most serious in the series. Trish (Jane Fonda) is a coquette who writes erotica about tight end Rob Gronkowski, while math expert Sally Field Betty becomes most interested in statistics. Meanwhile, Rita Moreno’s Maura is in the process of leaving her late husband.
Let’s think back to 2017 when women now have matching jerseys to match their Patriot fever that could rival some of the most loyal fans out there (again, there’s something to be appreciated in the true concept that older women can also be avid cheerleaders, fighting the cruel the gatekeeping that exists in much entertainment media.) Doctors frantically try to contact her Lou about her recent medical results, but she chooses not to open up and focus on winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Houston for the Super Bowl. . Unsurprisingly, she succeeds, as long as she keeps quiet about the potentially bad news to live out the dream with her best friends before it’s too late.
From there, 80 for Brady launches into retirement home escapes, NFL Experience antics (like a spicy wing-eating contest hosted by Guy Fieri), fancy parties where women accidentally get high (because, for whatever reason, the writers can’t help from that boring, regressive style that hasn’t been funny in over a decade), bizarre references to Eyes Wide Shut and wackier scenarios designed to fill the screen with celebrity cameos. Even when the film tries to explore sexual desire, it falls flat on its face by taking the laziest route to do so.
The four women each have their own subplot, but it’s all too much for one movie. Trish has relationship issues, Betty has a hopelessly addicted husband who needs her advice on everything and can’t even remember to put on pants before the day starts, and Maura is opening up to love again. They are poorly sketched without a satisfying payoff, let alone one that feels deserved.
Oddly, 80 works best for Brady when he stops acting like he cares about his emotional backbone and real-world logic. Despite owning tickets, there are many barriers to entry into the stadium and opportunities to step in and get the Patriots back on track after a terrible first half. When the filmmakers get weird, letting Tom Brady tease him with words of inspiration or letting women break into the game office to fire up Tom Brady with a rousing speech about chemotherapy and never let up, it’s a funny exercise that’s somehow real. movie (seeing is believing.) Tom Brady himself gets a speech that’s strangely moving, coming from a personal place of his undying love for the sport.
The rest is filled with bad games that don’t give us insight into who these characters are or make us care. It’s more concerned with derivative goofy older humor than highlighting this friendship and their adventure in cleverly entertaining and meaningful ways. Once a film like this in the subgenre of chaotic old age journeys will exist, but 80 for Brady is not it. The filmmakers mess with him from the beginning, and the recovery in the third act is not enough to save him.
Myth Flicker Rating – Movie: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
