Four for Funny — 80 FOR BRADY
By Maribeth Thueson
In recent years there have been a number of films about women in their 30s and 40s hitting the road for wild adventures ( Bridesmaids, Girls Trip, Rough Night, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar). But why should younger women have all the fun? Why can’t seniors get in on the action?
No reason at all, according to 80 for Brady, a delightful comedy about four friends who adore Tom Brady and watch New England Patriots football games together. (The group is based on four real women who, alas, never got to the Super Bowl.)
The four each have things holding them back: Jane Fonda is a sex-obsessed model-turned-romance-author who always picks the wrong guy. Sally Field is a retired math professor with a husband (Bob Balaban) who can’t seem to function without her. Rita Moreno is mourning the death of her husband, and Lily Tomlin is a cancer survivor. But after 16 years of watching games on TV, they decide to shake things up and go to the 2017 Super Bowl to see the Pats play the Atlanta Falcons.
What follows is a series of unlikely events, each more implausible than the last. Field enters a buffalo wing-eating contest run by Guy Fieri. Fonda meets a handsome former football player (Harry Hamlin) with two Super Bowl rings, and Moreno gets into a celebrity poker game with Billy Porter and Patton Oswalt. Meanwhile, Tomlin imagines that Brady — who not only appears in the film, but also has a producing credit — speaks just to her from televisions and billboards. Invited to a swanky party, the ladies walk in like they own the joint, and shortly they do, with the aid of some gummy edibles.
On game day they show up at the stadium in their sparkly 80 for Brady jerseys, but catastrophe awaits, and naturally they have to con their way into the stadium, which they do with the help of their new-found friends.
The four leads turn in solid performances, but they are assisted by an able supporting cast. Alex Moffat and Rob Corddry do their most outrageous Bahston accents as radio sports show hosts, and Glynn Turman has a nice turn as a widower who pursues Moreno. Rob Gonkowski, whom Fonda has made the hero of her books, runs into her in the locker room. “You’re so big!” she coos. “I know,” he smirks.
The last part of the movie is helped out enormously by NFL Films, which shot the game footage that provides some much-needed contrast to an ending that is downright ridiculous. But at only an hour and 38 minutes, the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the women are such pros that they rise above script’s deficiencies.
There are lessons here about getting out of ruts and finding joy in the moment, but they go over lightly. Mostly it’s a lot of silliness, but who cares? The gals are having fun, so we do, too.
And their age doesn’t matter a bit. They are vibrant, fit (participating in two dance numbers), and above all, funny. And if you think that the target audience for this movie is old geezers, I can tell you that the audience I saw the movie with was mostly young people, and they laughed all the way through and applauded at the end. Funny is funny, no matter what age you are.
Originally published at https://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on February 10, 2023.
