Tom Brady has been providing Hollywood free material for literally three decades. The most accomplished quarterback in NFL history, every stage of his football journey could’ve powered a new script: the afterthought backup-turned-Super Bowl champion, the clutch captain of the Patriots dynasty, and the 40-year-old savior of the Buccaneers. Twenty-three seasons. Seven rings. Three MVPs. And now, as he walks away at 45, one untouchable legacy.
No one would’ve blinked had Brady handpicked one of the biggest movie stars to bring his story to the big screen. You can picture it now: a Tom Cruise, or perhaps Mark Wahlberg, bulking up to wear the No. 12, with confetti and trophies littered throughout the screenplay. It would be a “Rudy” for our times. An “Invincible” for Boston.
Instead, when “80 for Brady,” the QB’s upcoming Paramount Pictures production, hits theaters Feb. 3, there won’t be one big-name actor carrying the load, but four. And they just so happen to be women.
Debuting a week before Super Bowl LVII, only the fourth title game in the last nine years not to feature Brady, the film stars Lily Tomlin, 83; Jane Fonda, 85; Rita Moreno, 91; and Sally Field, 76. All four have either won or been nominated for an Academy Award, and all four came to prominence on screen in the 1960s, giving them a natural connection to Brady as multigenerational entertainers. They play a quartet of elderly Patriots fans who embark on a trip to attend Super Bowl LI, desperate for a special girls’ getaway and a chance to see the superstar who inspired their fandom (you can guess who).
Brady has a relatively prominent role in this — and flows like a natural, portraying himself — alongside cameos from ex-Patriots teammates Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. By nature of the film’s premise, there are obviously hints of self-congratulations, a la LeBron James in “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” (The main gals hardly shed their sequined Brady jerseys!) The NFL also lends a healthy amount of real footage from Brady’s most heroic Super Bowl, when he led a historic comeback from down 28-3, to fuel a fuzzy fabrication of what actually motivated New England’s turnaround.
Still, the focus of “80 for Brady” isn’t so much Brady himself, but rather those cheering, laughing and struggling around him.
Loosely based on a true story of four widows who used Sunday gatherings — and shared adoration of Brady –…
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