Chick Flicks (pt. II)

Girls Trip

80 for Brady

Holy heart attack Batman, we’ve arrived at the 299th and 300th films to be inducted into the Double Feature Thursday hall of fame. I didn’t really know what to expect when I posted my first review in March of 2020, but I certainly never expected people to read my ramblings, let alone give me suggestions and connections and love. This blog was my first attempt to put my writing out into the world and 150 blog posts, 300 movies, and some published articles later, I’m just glad that anyone other than myself and my mom gives even a tenth of a shit about my writing. I just love movies, I love talking about them, and I truly truly TRULY love anyone who takes the time to read my (often-long-winded) opinions. I am grateful for you, dear reader, and I hope you’ll stick around for the next 300 films. What kinds of films, you may be asking, have I chosen for this momentous occasion? Why, more chick flicks, of course! The last time that I covered chick flicks, I explained that the beauty of this category of film is that its scope is so widespread. A chick flick doesn’t have to even have chicks in it, but these films are generally celebratory of the female kind, and all who support us. It has become increasingly difficult to find chick flicks that I have not seen, but that might be because I’ve been looking in the wrong age bracket. Tonight’s chick flicks come from an older, but still delightfully unwise point-of-view, they both revolve around four iconic actresses placed in ridiculous circumstances, and they both really utilized their respectively groovy soundtracks to the fullest extent(s?). We’ll begin with a film that I’d originally planned to watch during Female Filmmaker February last year—because it just really seems like the kind of film that should’ve been directed by a woman—but alas, it is directed by Malcolm D. Lee, and that film is Girls Trip. I distinctly remember laughing my ass off during the trailer of Girls Trip when it came out in 2017, but I never got around to actually watching it until tonight. Girls Trip gets into its story immediately, introducing us to four best friends from college all grown up: Sasha (Queen Latifah) the struggling journalist [right there with you, girly], Dina (Tiffany Haddish) the wild one, Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) the responsible mom, and Ryan (Regina Hall) the most successful girl boss of the bunch. Immediately this film expresses the immense importance of kinship and community, specifically among women, and the rest of the film is spent putting this sisterhood through the emotional and social ringer. Together, they are known as the “Flossy Posse”, and when Ryan is asked to be the keynote speaker at Essence Fest in New Orleans, the Flossy Posse unites for one absurd trip to The Big Easy. I already knew that Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish were comedy queens but it was so cool seeing thriller and drama leading lady Jada Pinkett Smith get to be funny. Seeing Jada and Queen Latifah together again, decades after Set It Off was crazy and random, (and I caught the quick reference they made) but the wardrobe in this film was determined to be crazier and more random. While the plot of this film was fairly predictable, the details of the hijinks of this film were unexpected. Between Tiffany Haddish smuggling weed in her asshole, Kate Walsh as Ryan’s agent cringe-ily using AAVE, Jada Pinkett Smith peeing all over everyone on Bourbon Street as she attempts to zip line from one balcony to another, and all of the ladies tripping their balls off some absinthe, each insane circumstance was more ludicrous and entertaining than the last. This girl’s trip was full of vulgarities, drugs, dance offs, big dicks, and some questionable wigs, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’ll be honest, Tiffany Haddish kind of carried this film on her back, so I’d love to know where exactly we stand with her right now so I can know if I’m allowed to praise her or not. There were some surprising and downright shocking cameos in this film, and a lot of cliche New Orleans activities that I loved seeing. I would’ve enjoyed this film, regardless of how it wrapped up, but the fact that it ends with the ladies all sharing a joint and staring at a dick pic just made this film even sweeter. Sources are saying that Valentines Day just passed, and this is the perfect kind of raunchy, girly flick to celebrate with. But if you’re looking for something a little more family friendly, keep reading. As a single woman wholly unconcerned with football, the weeks of the Super Bowl and Valentines Day do not offer much for me. The cinema, though, always has something for me—and this week it happened to be a film called 80 for Brady. Yes, in the great pantheon of iconic chick flicks, all ages are welcome and encouraged. Even if I didn’t adore chick flicks, I’d still happily see this film. There is such a profound lack of earnestly funny, genuinely stupid, and effortlessly fun films these days, so I’ll take them where I can get them! As my mom and I pulled up to Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theaters on a Monday at 12:30pm we thought, surely, we’d be the only people there—but we were wrong. As the theatre slowly became filled with women ages 60+, trailer after trailer of superhero detritus played, and they just seemed all the more ridiculous when sitting amongst this crowd. I know I bitch about the over saturation of superhero content in pop culture a lot, but in between Marvel miscarriages there was quite literally only one non-superhero movie trailer, and it just further underscored the fact that these intentionally vanilla movies try to target everyone but end up pleasing very few people. I sat there and thought, maybe there are no more “movies for everyone” made anymore—it’s just indie art heaux cinema and expensive superhero movies—but then film we’d paid to see finally began. 80 for Brady is based on a true story, and follows a group of friends who are obsessed with Tom Brady and fight tooth and nail to see him play in the 2017 Super Bowl. Now, if you’re like me and couldn’t even be paid to give a damn about football, you’re wary of sports films and somewhat resentful towards players like Tom Brady—players who are bad at being celebrities but refuse to leave the limelight. Unfortunately for Tom, despite his many cameos and executive producing credit, he cannot even pretend to have charisma. No matter how tall, attractive, rich, and close to his kids he might be, he could never be charming—especially not among the ranks of this perfect cast. Kyle Marvin’s 80 for Brady was co-written by Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern (who also co-wrote Booksmart) and stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field as four vivacious and sparkly senior citizens with a zest for life and a desire to see men perform physical feats like the Romans once did. At the heart of this film is a supremely silly but bitingly feminist perspective, one that celebrates men but also sexualizes this thing that so many of them hold so sacred. All four of the leading ladies are not defined by their ages or their love for football, but rather their ability to find the fun in anything. I mean Jane Fonda’s character writes steamy football fan fiction for godssake, and I, for one, can identify with that. The film is fully aware of who its audience is, and yet it finds a way to cater to everyone—sports fan or not, old lady fan or not. Along their journey to the Super Bowl, they encounter several obstacles including, but not limited to, having to break Rita Moreno out of the retirement home, navigating their way through a bougie NFL party on edibles, and finding a way to Mr. Brady himself. Also along for the ride were Rob Corddry and Alex Moffat as two Patriots fans with a podcast, Rob Funches as a friendly but stern security guard, Bob Balaban was perfectly cast as the anxious Sally Field’s anxious husband, lesbian icon Sara Gilbert was perfectly cast as lesbian icon Lily Tomlin’s daughter, Billy Porter stars as Lady Gaga’s choreographer named Gugu, Retta plays herself while Patton Oswalt plays a man named Brisket, Guy Fieri (!!!!!!) was of course there playing himself, and Harry the Greek God Hamlin was there as the cherry on top of this insanely wonderful ensemble. I expected to have fun with 80 for Brady, but I did not expect to love it this much. At no point in the film are these older women the butt of the joke, at no point is the focus ever truly on Tom Brady (thank god), and throughout this surprisingly thrilling film you can’t help rooting for these kooky queens to get exactly what they want. I strive to be that fierce and that horny at 80 years old, and never did I ever think that a movie with a football player’s name in it would be the one to put a smile on my face. I couldn’t stop laughing during this movie, and I genuinely think it is the best film that I have seen so far this year. It’s films like these that make my job easy—films that are so fun and free-wheeling that it excites me just to recommend them to people. If you’re still reading, thank you. If you’ve ever casually read a paragraph of anything I’ve written, thank you. If you happen to be passing by this random film blog for the first time ever, wow, why? And thank you. This week certainly was a trip and I thank you for allowing me to let it all out here!