80 for Brady: Definitely Not a GOAT But Surprisingly Fun Fluff
By Jim Slotek
Rating: B-
There are intangibles that suggest a giant piece of fluff like 80 for Brady has won you over against all sense.
In my case, it was the realization in the last act that I was rooting for the New England Patriots for the only time in my life. I slapped myself to snap out of it, but damn. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field sure can carry a football movie, no matter how silly.
It’s based (extremely loosely) on a real-life group of octogenarian widows who cemented their friendship and support over weekly Pats games on TV and shared their devotion to the now twice-retired quarterback Tom Brady. But 80 for Brady takes that simple story and puts it through an antic meat-grinder.
Moreno, Fonda, Field and Tomlin are headed for the Super Bowl
Their ranks include Trish (Fonda), a former TV pitchwoman who writes erotic fan fiction about, ahem, tight-end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski (with subtle titles like Between a Gronk and a Hard Place). PhD nerd Betty (Field) can instantly calculate odds of plays succeeding. Maura (Moreno) still mourns her late husband and, it turns out, has inherited a gambling jones from him.
And Lou (Tomlin), whose long-ago cancer recovery inspired the club, has her own agenda, insisting that the 80 for Brady gang attend the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston – her out-of-the-blue determination signifying a suspicion that this might be her last chance for an adventure.
And people do like seeing the elderly have a better time than people half their age (Cocoon, Going in Style). 80 for Brady is ultimately a series of improbable misadventures and gags thrown against the wall that ends with the women bluffing their way into a Super Bowl for the ages.
The adventures include Lou winning Brady jerseys at a football throwing exhibit (tossing the ball underhand), Betty crushing a Guy Fieri flaming hot wings competition (there’s a lot of Guy Fieri in this movie, literally at one point), Trish weaving her spell on a middle-aged hunk with two Super Bowl rings (Harry Hamlin), who invites them to a glam NFL party enhanced by edibles.
Oh, and the tickets – ostensibly won in a draw on a sports podcast – have adventures of their own, with the result that the ladies must think on their feet with security close behind, at times even affecting events on the field.
In some ways, 80 for Brady is a retirement present for the NFL’s putative GOAT (yes, Brady retired again this week at age 45). He produced the movie and takes part in it - as an avatar who speaks to Lou and as himself, even being on the receiving end of a life-lesson at one point.
You could think of it as a 98-minute ad for the Super Bowl, opening as it is a week before this year’s edition.
These words do not sound like the description of the GOAT of movies. And 80 for Brady is not that.
And yet, it insidiously draws you in with its determination to have fun, courtesy of four actresses-for-the-ages willing to go along with the goof.
80 for Brady. Directed by Kyle Marvin. Starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field. Opens in theatres February 3.