Joyce Glasser reviews 80 For Brady (March 24) Cert. 12, 98 mins.
What do you get when you combine the greatest and oldest quarter-back in NFL history, with four actresses over 75 who, between them have five Academy Awards, and more Emmys’ than you can shake a stick at? One answer is a whimsical comedy based on the true story of four octogenarian friends who travel to the Superbowl 2017 to take part in the biggest upset in football history. Another answer is Hollywood star power: four actresses who rise above the script to give us a good time and a few lessons in ageing.
Four friends in the Boston area meet every year to watch the Superbowl on television. They really congregate to cheer on their New England Patriots’ hero Tom Brady, who brought them together in 2001 when Lou (Lily Tomlin) was recovering from Chemo. Fifteen years on, the champagne is flowing as they celebrate the Patriots’ victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championships.
Sure, they like the excitement of the game, but one of the friends speaks for them all when she sighs, ‘There’s Tom, he’s such a beautiful man.’ So beautiful in fact that Lou floats the idea of actually going to the Superbowl. The cost would be prohibitive, but not if they manage to win a sports radio competition offering four tickets to whoever comes up with the best fan story.
In this unusual fan club is glamorous, sought after but single, former Ms Mayflower Trish (Jane Fonda), who writes football themed chick-lit. She falls in love far too easily and not always wisely, but even at her age is a magnet for men because she invests in her physical upkeep. Then there’s adventurous Maura (Rita Moreno), a shrewd gambler who is testing out a nursing home while grieving for her late husband. She’s hanging onto the couple’s home just in case the odds favour independence over security when the grieving period is over.
Brilliant Betty (Sally Fields), a retired mathematician is only 75, and happy to remind her friends of it. Unlike the others, she is still married. We notice how her relationship with her husband (Bob Balaban), a sweet, but overly dependent professor, evolves as she embarks on this uncharacteristically wacky adventure without mentioning it to her family. Last but not least is indomitable cancer survivor Lou, whose sixteen year bond with Patriots’ quarter back Tom Brady might be more than fantasy.
Top of the bucket list is a trip to Houston to cheer on their handsome, affable, 6’4” hero (and co-producer of this movie). The chance to see Brady in person is all the more pressing for Lou who is awaiting recent test results and fears a return of the big C. Her highflying daughter keeps calling about the results, but Lou has no more intention of telling her family where she is heading than does Betty.
When Lou announces that they have won the competition for free tickets to the Superbowl, her friends, less incredulous than they should be at this luck, join Lou on a flight to Houston where the adventure – and the trouble – begins. First however, there is the matter of breaking Maura out of the luxury nursing home where she is fast asleep. This trite, but amusing escapade is accomplished with the help of her friend on the inside – Mickey (Glynn Turman), a football fan who is more than casually interested in Maura.
The fans make the most of their cramped hotel quarters with hotels being as hard to come by as tickets. Venturing into the NFL Experience, Betty enters a Hot Wings Challenge hosted by Guy “Ramsey” Fieri, (playing himself), a restauranteur who is more of a celebrity in American than here. The scene in which Betty signs up for the competition is arguably the funniest in the film. Betty can handle her spicy wings but not her waist bag containing the tickets, which goes missing.
Humour is derived from the humiliating ruses the women employ to get past the Superbowl bouncers after Betty admits to having lost what turn out to be fake tickets. The women are nothing if not resourceful, however. Still, passing themselves off as Gugu’s (Billy Porter) half-time dancers for Lady Ga Ga only gets them so far. They need a little help from their friends, including amorous Dan (Harry Hamlin), who, in pursuit of Trish, invites the women into his expensive box to enjoy the game in style. Dan, a former NFL player with lots of connections and clout, is a godsend for the girls but just the kind of lothario they warn Trish to stay away from. Or is he?
The Brady bunch may have worked miracles to get these fab seats in the Superbowl, but can they do anything about the score at halftime? With the Patriots hopelessly behind, Lou’s goal is to get into the coaches’ box where she can give Brady the “if you fight, I’ll fight” pep talk they each need.
Even if you know the outcome, first time director Kyle Marvin recreates the nail biting reversal of fortunes that made this Superbowl so memorable. Booksmart writers Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern give the women credible and varied backstories, which define the way they develop during the film. They also work in a funny locker room encounter between Trish and Patriots champion Rob ‘Gronk’ Gronkowski, the 6’6,” 120 Kilo (256 pound) hero of her novel Between a Gronk and Hard Place.
Elsewhere however, this normally nimble writing duo are heavy handed with a script that tries harder than required to bust ageist stereotypes. When you have this talent on screen, all that is obvious. And do we really need to see them get high at a cocktail party, where, for no discernible reason, Betty strikes up a boring conversation with an awkward younger man? There is a great cosmetic surgery joke – and thankfully, just one – but too few belly laughs with this calibre of comic talent on hand to deliver the punch lines.
It’s easy to overlook these shortcomings when Brady, 40, appears to greet his four fans after his triumphant comeback. ‘I thought about retirement’, he ruminates, ‘but it would be a shame to retire if you feel you still got it.’
It’s a great line that breaks the fourth wall, sending a message to everyone over 75. And Brady did not retire in 2017. He retired for good in 2022 at the age of 45. While only time will tell if he pursues a career in acting, one thing is sure: there’s no end in sight for the 80 for Brady bunch.
