The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Legendary ladies bring winning touch to ‘80 for Brady’

BY KATIE WALSH TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Quarterback Tom Brady owns seven Super Bowl rings, but that’s nothing compared with the latest team against whom he’s facing off, the winningest group of legends perhaps ever assembled.

Take a look at the stats: first, Jane Fonda, with two Oscars, seven Golden Globes and two Tony Awards; second, Lily Tomlin, boasting six Emmys, two Tonys and a Grammy; third, Sally Field, with two Oscars, two Emmys and two Globes. Rounding out the team is Rita Moreno, with an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, two Emmys and a Globe.

This fearsome foursome star in “80 for Brady,” a tale about a group of octogenarian football fans and a wild weekend at the Super Bowl. Based on a unique set of actual Brady superfans, the film lands at the juncture of “Book Club” and “Fever Pitch.”

Tomlin’s character Lou is the heart of the movie, the biggest superfan of them all, enforcing their superstitions and encouraging the group to enter a contest for free tickets. Around her flit Trish (Fonda), a former “Mayflower Girl” who falls in love easily and often, the recently widowed and grieving Maura (Moreno), and Betty (Field), a sharp MIT math professor who likes to remind them all she’s in her 70s, not her 80s. When the gals get a lucky break with the tickets, they make their way to Houston to catch the 2017

Super Bowl in person.

The comedy isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, and the story beats are almost painfully predictable, but the picture hangs together thanks to this group of legends, and the loose, absurdist humor of the screenplay. Director Kyle Marvin has wisely stacked the supporting cast with comedians and celebs to keep things fresh and funny, and Alex Moffat and Rob Corddry keep up a steady patter of Boston-accented banter throughout, as a pair of Patriots commentators who keep us non-football folks following the action.

Naturally, there are several cameos from former Patriots, including Brady, who makes his way through a third-act speech. But the true MVP of the picture is Field, who feels the most naturally at ease and gets the most hilarious moments.

Tomlin is saddled with the pathos, Fonda the romantic drama, while Field’s Betty, free of her needy, nutty professor husband (Bob Balaban) enters a hot wing eating contest, gets high on edibles and tries out flirting for the first time. It’s her liberating journey that manages to do the impossible for “80 for Brady” — to come back from a cringeworthy trailer and manage to score a touchdown.

Movie details: Rated PG13 for brief strong language, some drug content and some suggestive references; 98 minutes. Grade: B

ENTERTAINMENT

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2023-02-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-02-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282368338793565

The Gazette, Colorado Springs