80 for Brady (2023 | USA | 98 minutes | Kyle Marvin)
The first time I saw a trailer for the new movie 80 for Brady, about four of the world’s most cherished legendary actresses scheming to watch Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, I thought it was a blatant example of elder abuse. If anyone has earned the right not to play Tom Brady fans, it’s Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field. Yet somehow here we are.
Brady is likely the easiest professional athlete, in any sport, to loathe. There are no shortage of reasons. He’s impossibly accomplished (no one has won more Super Bowls than Tom Brady. He’s won seven and the next winningest QBs won four), handsome, likely cheats, and uses quacks to (somehow successfully!) circumvent the aging process. I have almost a full head of gray hair, a beer belly, and can hear muscles crack when I get up and somehow Tom Brady is older than me. Moreover, one of Brady’s Super Bowl wins was eight years and one day ago from the time I’m writing this and doctors and mental health professionals say I may never fully recover.
Here’s the rub: 80 for Brady might be the most fun movie I’ve seen in a theater in a while. The movie is silly and harmless and Tomlin, Fonda, Moreno, and Field all sure know how to generate laughs. This movie is based on an actual group of older ladies who are Brady superfans.
Lily Tomlin is Lou, the ringleader who convinces her clique to run off to Houston to watch Super Bowl LI (where Brady’s New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime, after trailing 21-3 at halftime). Jane Fonda is Trish, a former TV commercial star who now writes erotic novels about Patriots then-star tight end Rob Gronkowski (which someone has done IRL). Rita Moreno’s Maura has to be snuck out of her retirement home, and Sally Field’s Betty is a math genius who has to remind her dottering professor husband (Bob Balaban) to wear pants, lest he leave the house forgetting.
When in Houston, the hijinks are often quite funny, because they’re so improbable. I saw the movie about two weeks ago and am still laughing at Lily Tomlin calling Guy Fieri “Guy Ferrari” and saying he looks like a flaming Cheeto. Sally Field renaming her fanny pack because she doesn’t wear it around her waist is another hilarious moment that will spontaneously cause me to laugh.
The reason, I think, that the movie works so well is that it never takes itself so seriously and it is full of funny people. National treasure Ron Funches plays a security guard who is determined to keep the ladies from sneaking into the Super Bowl (a task that proves more difficult than it should). Jimmy O. Yang (“Silicon Valley”) is another funny addition to the movie, and he plays the manager at Rita Moreno’s nursing home.
It should also be noted that director Kyle Marvin has a deft hand for comedy (and a willingness to talk to me).
The movie works because there are a lot of funny people involved. I’m not sure if another athlete besides Brady would’ve made the better or worse, and I don’t really care. I can only say that my girlfriend’s elderly mother is a massive fan of Patrick Mahomes and he’s playing in the upcoming Super Bowl. I hope this movie doesn’t give her any ideas.
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80 For Brady is in theaters now.