80 For Brady is pure cinematic comfort food
Four elder stateswomen of Hollywood team up for 80 For Brady, which follows a group of friends (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field and Rita Moreno) who embark on one last girls’ trip to the Superbowl to see their hero, Tom Brady, play for the New England Patriots. However, a series of misadventures mean their road to The Big Game is more chaotic than they planned.
If you’ve seen the 2013 comedy Last Vegas, it’s the same type of journey. A group of eccentric older stars traverse the modern world, accidentally get high, before working through old wounds. The NFL setting won’t mean much to those who aren’t fans, but the themes of friendship and being young at heart will appeal to the millions who made Tomlin and Fonda’s show Grace & Frankie a hit. While you can see every twist coming a mile off, it’s good natured enough to not matter.
What also helps is that the quartet are fun to hang around with. It’s easy to forget that these actors have five Oscars between them, and elevate the slight material by crafting a friendship that is believable and endearing. The colourful co-stars they run into are a mixed bag: Harry Hamlin and Billy Porter are fun as Fonda’s love interest and Tomlin’s rival respectively, but whoever decided to make peroxide haired TV chef Guy Fieri a major plot point was greatly misguided. The titular Quarterback makes an appearance, alongside his burley colleagues who (I’m assured) are a big deal if you like that sort of thing.
A comfort movie for the silver-haired cinephile, 80 for Brady is charming enough to score a touchdown for those who like their cinema undemanding.