Tom Brady’s first foray into Hollywood, a silly comedy called “80 For Brady,” is far more awkward than ever on the football field.
It’s true that the film’s casting is a virtue, and Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Rita Moreno light up the screen with their beloved personalities. But putting these legends into a “Hangover”-style girls’ weekend story doesn’t need such heavy-handed execution.
Performance duration: 98 minutes. Rated PG-13 (Brief strong language, some drug content and some suggestive references.) In theaters.
A scene in which Guy Fieri hosts a spicy barbecue eating contest shouts “the pain train to Flavortown!” hence the phrase “cutting floor”.
“Brady,” directed by Kyle Marvin, tries to balance relentless absurdity with being devastatingly uplifting. The quartet of women play die-hard Patriots fans who started the tradition of watching every Sunday after the channel got stuck on football during a visit with their friendly friend Lou (Tomlin), who was undergoing chemotherapy. They became obsessed with Brady and eventually the game itself.
Three are eight years old and one, buttoned-up Betty (Field,) is 75.
Sultry Trish (Fonda) is the author of Rob Gronkowski romance fiction, such as the popular “Between Gronk and a Hard Place” and Maura (Moreno) is a widow and steely poker player.
One day in 2017, Lou hatches a plan for the ladies to go to Super Bowl LI – the Patriots vs. the Atlanta Falcons – because she sees herself breaking Brady’s boundaries.
“If Tom Brady can make it to the Super Bowl, so can we!” he declares. “It’s 80 in human years.”
So they enter a local Boston radio contest to win tickets by sharing their unusual fan story, and somehow make it to Houston, Texas for the big game.
Although “Brady” is billed as “inspired by a true story,” almost nothing in the movie actually happened to the real-life “80 For Brady” club. They didn’t befriend Lady Gaga’s choreographer – here called Gugu (Billy Porter), ugh – and impersonate the halftime dancers. None of them accidentally ended up at a celebrity poker tournament in an obscure suburban mansion. They certainly never met Danny Amendola, Gronk and Brady in the locker room, even though the real Tom benefits from a movie based on their likeness.
The ladies didn’t actually go to the Super Bowl.
This extreme departure from reality could be the reason why most of the events in the film are completely unbelievable and therefore difficult to laugh or be moved by. The funniest part is when Moreno eats a sticky pot of what he assumed was healthy candy, and gets excited for a scene. But, come on, we’ve seen this blurry vision and drug in movies countless times.
“80 For Brady” would be almost worthless if it weren’t for the wonderful talents and chemistry of its wonderful cast.
But like the footballs of an infamous Brady scandal, I was deflated in the end.
