Poms

Year 16, Day 129 - 5/8/24 - Movie #4,728

BEFORE: OK, not a movie about mothers, or maybe is it?  I don't know, since I haven't watched it yet, but it's about older women, so some of them are bound to be mothers, right?  Maybe?  Taking a bit of a chance here, but this film sets up more Mother's Day themed material, so it's here as connective tissue, if nothing else. 

Pam Grier carries over from "Being Rose". 

THE PLOT: A comedy about a group of women who form a cheerleading squad at their retirement community, proving that you're never too old to "Bring it!"

AFTER: Aww, it's an adorable film about getting old and trying to do all the things that you meant to do but never got around to, before you die. It might be more sweet if it weren't more tragic, and vice versa.  Diane Keaton plays a woman with cancer who chooses to deal with it by NOT dealing with it, and by selling all her stuff and moving out of her NYC apartment to go live in a retirement community in Georgia.  And it seems like she cancels all her doctor's appointments and doesn't get a new primary doctor in her new state, so umm, that's either a good thing or a very bad thing.

Things do not go well at first, because she's got this weird new neighbor who is just a bit too friendly, and she's spent the last 40 years in New York, where you're not even supposed to notice strangers, let alone talk to them.  You don't need friends in NYC, unless you had them before you moved here - everyone you meet is either your competition or they're just plain in your way.  At best other people are a necessary annoyance. 

But despite this, Martha becomes friends with Sheryl and they want to start their own club in the community, which has a lot of rules about Christmas decorations and mowing lawns, so sure, why wouldn't they have rules about what kind of club you can start, how many members it needs to have, and whether it serves some kind of purpose?  And what is cheerleading's purpose, exactly?  To, umm, cheer on other sports, but somehow this activity became something of a sport of its own, I mean there are competitions that judge how well people cheer on other things, that does seem a bit ridiculous if you think about it. 

But, it's important for old people to stay active, and at least moving around and waving pom-poms counts as a form of exercise, it's better than mall-walking at least, provided somebody doesn't break a hip or something.  Naturally they have to cut out all the high-flying and the stunts and there's no senior citizen pyramid, because all of that is too dangerous, their bones are just way too brittle.  

There's a mix-up getting some practice space at the high school, and the seniors end up performing at a high-school pep rally, and of course all of the kids are not very kind, and one "Mean Girl" posts the video of the senior squad bumping into each other, which then goes viral and the senior cheerleaders are famous, but for the wrong reasons.  But it only makes them more determined, and they even blackmail one of the high-school girls into training them and showing them some new moves.  That's a great message for the world, if you can't beat them, just blackmail them into joining you, or something. 

But it works, and the seniors strut their stuff in a real competition by entering the "18-Plus" division, and just not mentioning how far over 18 they all are.  Multiply that age by 4 or 5 and you've got some idea.  This is a great fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Martha, who was close to becoming a cheerleader when she was in high school but then her mother got sick or she had to tend to wounded Civil War soldiers, one or the other, and she had to quit the squad.  So the message is that there's always a little time left to do the things you really wanted to do in life, like that's why there's the Seniors Tournament on "Jeopardy!", and it may take me that long to get there. There's always enough time, that is, until there isn't.  

Still, it's important that you follow every road you want to, and that you find your tribe, whatever age you are.  That's really the best way to get through this crazy thing we call life, otherwise if you're lucky enough to get old then you may feel like you wasted too much time on those stupid things called "jobs".  I mean, you realize that you're trading away HOURS of your life each day for what, money?  You don't get those hours back, you know, once they're gone, they're gone.  So there simply has to be a better way - please let me know if you discover one. 

Look, two of the actresses who played squad members have already passed away, and this film was released in 2019, that's not that long ago.  But I guess that's the chance you take when you cast a film and hire so many people over the age of 80.  That's "80 for Late-y".  I've got to cut this review a bit short tonight for two reasons - I've got to figure out the path to Father's Day before I can watch the next movie (there are several ways to arrange the next three or four films, and I've got to make sure the order I pick connects) and also, I've got to get up super early tomorrow and open up the theater at 8 am.  So I guess no sugar, no caffeine and no movie tonight, I'll just work out the next segment of the chain and then it's off to bed.

Also starring Diane Keaton (last seen in "Book Club: The Next Chapter"), Jacki Weaver (last seen in "Equals"), Celia Weston (last seen in "Igby Goes Down"), Alisha Boe (last seen in "Yes, God, Yes"), Charlie Tahan (last seen in "The Land of Steady Habits"), Rhea Perlman (last seen in "Barbie"), Phyllis Somerville (last seen in "Swimfan"), Patricia French (last seen in "Hall Pass"), Ginny MacColl, Carol Sutton (last seen in "Jeff, Who Lives at Home"), Bruce McGill (last seen in "Elizabethtown"), Alexandra Ficken, Dave Maldonado (last seen in "The Tomorrow War"), Karen Beyer (last seen in "One Missed Call"), Sharon Blackwood (last seen in "Loving"), Afemo Omilami (last seen in "The Best of Enemies"), Frank Hoyt Taylor (last seen in "October Sky"), Josephine Roth, Angela Mitchell Kronenburg, John Atwood (last seen in "Richard Jewell"), Leon Lamar (last seen in "No Good Deed"), Dorothy Steel (last seen in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"), John Paul Kakos.

RATING: 6 out of 10 parking spaces for golf carts