“80 for Brady” Review
(From Left) Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno star as four massive New England Patriots fans who risk it all to go to the 2017 Super Bowl in “80 for Brady.”
If Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field are reading this right now, I just have two things to say to them. First, I love all of you and I’m very flattered that you read this small blog. Second, just admit it. You just wanted to make a movie where you got to hang out with Guy Fieri and Billy Porter while fawning over Tom Brady and eating chicken wings didn’t you? Well, if the answer’s yes then you have my respect. Because the only thing better than doing all of that is having it be filmed, made into a movie with national distribution and getting paid for it.
While “80 For Brady” may seem like an odd film and definitely abuses the term “inspired by a true story,” it still was a fun enough time for me and, if you want a watch a new film to get you hyped for Super Bowl Sunday, this might be the one that does it for you.
Set in 2017, the film revolves around four 80-year-old friends (except for Sally Field who keeps reminding us that she’s in her seventies) who are superfans of the New England Patriots and especially star quarterback Tom Brady. While these four love each other and watching football together, they decide to have one last crazy big adventure and go to the fifty-first Super Bowl to see their Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons. Along the way, they run into some interesting characters, have a lot of fun (some of it illegal) and strengthen their sisterhood while maybe, just maybe, getting the chance to meet their favorite athletes.
I had no real desire to see this movie. Don’t get me wrong, I adore all four of these leading ladies. They’re some of the best actors of all time but “80 for Brady” just seemed like a film that was made to bank off of their popularity. However, I wasn’t prepared for how insane this film was. A lot of the film’s comedic value not only comes from the talents of Fonda, Tomlin, Moreno and Field, but also from how random it is.
If you can’t see any entertainment value in this image of Sally Field entering a spicy wings contest hosted by Guy Fieri, you probably won’t get this film.
When I looked into who wrote this film, I discovered the cowriters were Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern who previously were part of the writing team that made “Booksmart,” one of my favorite comedies of the 2010s. Their humorous talent definitely made its way into “80 for Brady” because they took this basic concept and just decided to have as much fun as possible. I think the scriptwriting process was like a game of tennis with one writer slapping a crazy idea to the other who would return the serve with an even crazier idea.
If you just succumb to the madness of it all, this is going to be an entertaining ride. I mean, you get to see Sally Field participate in a spicy wings contest, Jane Fonda read sexy fan fiction she wrote about Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno hustle football fans at a pass throwing competition. Oh and Patton Oswalt is there too.
Despite all of the insane fun that “80 for Brady” offers, you still do feel something for the characters because the film is tapping into the core values we have of friendship and the bonds that sports create within us. You are invested enough in their lives to care when things go wrong and you certainly buy the friendship all four of these women have with each other. Fonda, Tomlin, Moreno and Field certainly didn’t slum it with their performances and they definitely got a lot of laughs out of me. As for Tom Brady, I can definitely say that he gives his best performance since “Ted 2.”
What I see in “80 for Brady” is a quaint celebration that is just meant to be a quick 90 minute dose of entertainment. I can see this film becoming part of a Super Bowl weekend tradition where, before the game, people watch this film. It’s like the delicious wings or the chili dip you have at a Super Bowl party. Is it substantive? I guess not. Do you love it anyway? Yes! I think most who see this film will enjoy it and, if some don’t like it, they’ll be too distracted by how much fun everyone had making it to get too angry.
