This film is inspired by the true story of four best friends, Lou (Lily Tomlin), Trish (Jane Fonda), Maura (Rita Moreno) and Betty (Sally Field) and New England Patriots fans, who take a life-changing trip to Super Bowl LI in 2017 to see their hero Tom Brady play, and the chaos that ensues as they navigate the wilds of the biggest sporting event in the country. First of all, the tickets being so expensive, they submitted letters of why they would be worthy of tickets via a competition and won. Secondly, when they arrived, they wound up meeting an eclectic group of people, such as Dan (Harry Hamlin), Guy Fieri, Billy Porter and Matt Patricia (Alex Bentley) to mention a few, and then so much happens and they even haven't gotten into the stadium yet.
Others to round out the cast are Sally Kirkland as Ida, Sara Gilbert as Sara, Lou's daughter, Jimmy O. Yang as Tony, Ron Funches as Chip, Bob Balaban as Mark, Betty's husband, Glynn Turman as Mickey and Rob Gronkowski as himself.
This was surprisingly well directed by Kyle Marvin. I say surprisingly considering that this filmmaker has no other directing experience whether it be feature films, TV, shorts, etc. He has done some acting, writing and a lot of producing, so he has been working in the biz, which is probably where he was able to hone his talent. Was this a fluke? Maybe, but I somehow doubt it. A natural? More than likely is. He should receive more work his way. It was written with such heart and humor by writing team Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins ("Booksmart" '19) plus TV and a short. I went to see this film with trepidation and a certain element of curiosity, because how could a film about four friends going to see a Super Bowl game be interesting enough to capture my attention for a feature film? Well, the trailer really doesn't sell it in that once you find out more about these four women, and their extreme fandom toward Tom Brady, the story gets better as the films unfolds. These writers were able to present these four women with such distinctive personalities--I wonder if these women were anything like the actors on the screen--that they just pulled you into their lives. Of course, we have four Academy Award winning actresses, however it still takes talented writing in order to grab the audience, and I think they did in spades.
If you like the star power, Tom Brady, and a nice, fluffy, non-controversial film, this is the film for you. There was not too much to think about with this, and I say this with the utmost compliments. It is so rare lately that we see something that is well done, all the while purely entertaining us, that it was a joy to see back and laugh and have my heart tugged just a little. And isn't this what we really like to see in films that we don't receive so much of the time?
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 98mins.
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