'80 For Brady' A Review

80 For Brady is a comedy about a group of friends, Patriots/Tom Brady superfans, who decide to go to the 2017 Super Bowl.

The four leads are all national treasures, no doubt about it, and all really show up and commit both to the sports angle and to the comedy but Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda struggle a bit, not through any fault of theirs, but because their storylines are a bit more clunky and as a result the performances more forced. Sally Field and Rita Moreno fair better, perhaps because they function more as supporting roles to Tomlin and Fonda, they are able to play more, ground more of the comedy in authentic emotion creating what feel like more dimensional characters. Not that Tomlin and Fonda are fake but they are saddled with more, unnecessary, exposition and conflict and have to work overtime to make it work. The supporting cast is stacked and a lot of fun- Billy Porter, Ron Funches, Alex Moffat, Rob Corddry, Jimmy O. Yang, Sara Gilbert, Guy Fieri- the list goes on. 

Visually, like most comedies, there isn't much of an angle, very basic, nuts and bolts. The costuming on the other hand is off the charts, all the wigs and outfits are a real delight. The soundtrack is effective if not particularly inspired. All in all the production elements work. It's a fun ride and a treat to see a film helmed by four older legendary actors. But the script gets in its own way, there are some great scenes and sequences(A high Moreno stumbling into a porker game, Tomlin and Field dancing, Field at a spicy wing eating context, Fonda having an impromptu book signing for her erotic fan fiction) but a lot of the time is wasted by faux-problems manufactured for plot and emotional hurdles that don't feel realistic. What we want to see is these women have fun, be funny, and spend time together punctuated by other fun characters interacting with them and we kinda get that but we also get a fair amount of unnecessary narrative noise.

A solid piece of entertainment that has a broad appeal if not quite the homerun the leads deserve.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Rent It.