80 for Brady Parent Guide

It all started with a broken remote control. Luella (known as Lou and played by Lily Tomlin) was recovering from chemotherapy and her TV remote stuck on a channel broadcasting a football game. As Luella and her friends watched, a rookie quarterback named Tom Brady saved the day, winning the game for the New England Patriots and turning all four women into die-hard Brady fans.

Sixteen years have passed but the friends still gather every week to cheer for their favorite team and for each other. Betty (Sally Field) is a math professor with an indecisive academic for a husband, Maura (Rita Moreno) is recently widowed and mourning her loss, and Trish (Jane Fonda) changes men as frequently as she swaps out her wigs. Lou knows that life is both precious and unpredictable and decides that what the women need is a trip to the Super Bowl. The 2017 game will be played in Houston between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons - and a local TV show is giving away tickets. The women all enter the contest and come game day they’re in Houston, clad in blinged up Patriots jerseys and ready to root for their favorite quarterback. As tightly bonded as these gal pals are, there’s no way they are going to let any roadblocks prevent them from enjoying the game they came to see…

I’ll be blunt: watching 80 for Brady is a painful experience. The writing is terrible – it’s saccharine, predictable, and tedious. There are no surprises anywhere in this story and the ridiculous plot elements are telegraphed far in advance. I don’t understand why a filmmaker would pay to have Fonda, Tomlin, Field, and Moreno in a film and give them such bad material and poor direction. Frankly, this feels like a Disney Channel TV show that’s aimed at seniors instead of children. It combines the same mediocre writing and wooden acting to produce a sense of simmering irritation in any audience over the age of twelve, although it’s worth noting that no one under the age of 60 is going to be interested in this movie.

Critical details aside, the overall vibe is bad. 80 for Brady feels less like a movie and more like an advertorial for the NFL, with strong product placements for Microsoft and reality TV personality Guy Fieri. It’s also a vanity project for Tom Brady. Not only does he appear in the film, he’s also the producer, which means he invested money to get this self-congratulatory film made. It’s not a good look.

To be honest, I had low expectations for this film. I assumed it would be another Book Club, replete with sex jokes but I’m glad to be wrong. The sexual content is minimal, focusing mainly on Betty’s innocent use of a term that is also slang for a sex toy. There is some minor social drinking, but more troubling is a scene where three of the women inadvertently consume gummy bears laced with marijuana and get stoned, which is played for laughs over an extended series of scenes. Some viewers will also be unhappy with the movie’s relaxed and often positive attitude towards gambling, which pops up fairly frequently in the storyline.

Any critic’s review is obviously subjective and I noted with surprise that there was some audible laughter in the theater during my showing. There is an off chance that you might find this movie funny, but I wouldn’t gamble the price of a theater ticket on it. Wait until it streams: when the eye rolls start to become physically uncomfortable, you can just watch your favorite football team instead.