‘80 for Brady’: Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field head to the Super Bowl

It was a great idea to adapt the true story of four older female fans of the New England Patriots into a movie. It was a great idea to cast Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field as the Tom Brady-loving gals. But that’s where the great ideas stopped. Instead of four veteran film actors at the top of their game playing full-bodied elderly characters who bond over football, we get a paint-by-numbers script with grandma jokes (they’re dad jokes but creakier).

On their 2017 journey to Houston, for what they believe will be their hero’s last Super Bowl (he was nearly 40 then), the feisty quartet mistakenly take laced gummies. Then they dance, find lust, eat spicy food, dance again, and, of course, there’s a sex joke or two.

» READ MORE: Sally Field talks about her love for Philly and sports

Oh, they also help influence the Patriots historic comeback over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Unfortunately, the fantasy elements blitz the football elements.

Anyone who cares anything about the NFL knows the Patriots won the historic game so there’s no suspense in the outcome. There’s also no underdog component frequently found in sports movies. The whole movie therefore hinges on the four stars.

They certainly give 110% and leave it all on the field, but they needed better plays in the huddle. Fonda, playing a popular author of Rob Gronkowski erotica, is given little to do but change wigs and swoon over men. Field is the uptight, nerdy math professor with an even nerdier husband (Bob Balaban). Tomlin is the organizer who got through an earlier illness with help of the Patriots’ 2002 Super Bowl Run. The amazing Moreno, who had a supporting role in the great Singing in the Rain more than 70 years ago and is the oldest of the actresses at 91, is the widow with a gambling habit.

I really wanted to like 80 for Brady. I’ve been going to sports events with the same people for 30+ years so I understand how friendships can evolve and cement through one’s obsession with a sport, team, or player. But the scenes all unfold with the inevitability of a fourth-quarter Brady drive. There are, however, movie and football fans who just want to escape for two hours, who are tired of horror, irony, post-irony, and the quiet dramas of unhappy people living unhappy lives. For them, taking a road trip with four old, all-pros may be a winning score.

Directed by Kyle Marvin. Written by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, who penned the much smarter “Booksmart.” (Rated PG-13. Premieres Friday, Feb. 3, in theaters.)

M. Night Shyamalan returns to theaters with an adaptation of the book The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. The story is about a gay couple (Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff) and their adopted daughter (Kristen Cui, who’s terrific), who have their rural cabin vacation interrupted by the Four Good Samaritans of the Apocalypse.

The tight-knit family of three must choose to kill one of their own or they will bring about the end of the world. Philosophical and religious arguments with a strong dose of paranoia follow. Are these visitors really harbingers of doom or lunatics out to exact a form of retribution on the parenting gay couple? It’s all wrapped up in the form of a thriller and there is a building, brooding suspense. Like much of Shyamalan’s work, it’s an interesting idea.

The good bad guys or bad good guys, depending on your point of view, are played by Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. Bautista is particularly unnerving with his massive frame and hypnotic, calming voice. A lot of Knock works, but you really need to buy the premise — that the end of the world is both preordained yet totally random. And we’re all going down to music by KC and the Sunshine Band.

News fans take note of an appearance by KYW Newsradio’s Denise Nakano. (Rated R. Premieres Friday, Feb. 3, in theaters.)