Nobody wants to see a bunch of eighty year-olds running around in short skirts. Retired teacher Martha (Diane Keaton) is an introverted woman who moves to a retirement community that has shuffleboard, golf, bowling and other activities. Hoping to be left alone, she meets Sheryl (Jacki Weaver) a fun-loving neighbour who insists that they become best pals and tell each other all their business. After coming out of her shell, Martha and her new friend decide to form a cheerleading squad with their fellow residents against the wishes of the coven who run social activities. As the two women hold auditions and recruit six other women, including Olive (Pam Grier) and Alice (Rhea Perlman) whose husband forbids her from participating ‘over my dead body’ and dies the next day, they soon learn that it’s never too late to follow your dreams, even when the odds are stacked against you. When they make fools of themselves at the local high school where Sheryl subs as a teacher and Helen (Phyllis Somerville) breaks her ankle, they find they’re being mocked online on a video posted by teenage cheerleader Chloe (Alisha Boe) who is tackled and shamed by Martha and Sheryl and agrees to coach the women. The only teenager Ben (Charlie Tahan) in the retirement village is delighted and Martha helps him with his driver’s ed. Just as the squad get their big competitive chance Martha wants to bow out … The only thing that really matters is what we think of ourselves. You might be forgiven with that title and the presence of Weaver that this is some kind of Aussie exegesis on Brits Down Under. Instead it’s another step in Keaton’s occasional chronicle of women at various stages in life, a narrative trajectory that in collaboration with auteur Nancy Meyers she has essayed a career woman with unwanted child (Baby Boom); empty nester (Father of the Bride); and a late life romantic who uses her experiences as copy for her plays (Something’s Gotta Give). Now with writer/director Zara Hayes she tackles retirement and it’s a feel-good story with fangs that nip at different and frightening aspects of ageing: financial control by grasping children; the presumption that all old people must have shared interests; and the need to keep certain things private despite the urgings of a rather despotic community of busy body elders. Keaton is a delicate comic performer whose nuanced take on a woman seeking solace is expertly timed. She’s been at this for an unbelievable 50 years. Aren’t we fortunate? There’s a sympathetic score by Deborah Lurie and great use of songs. We might have liked to see more of Grier and Perlman but for a tale of female empowerment this one’s got legs. Bring it on! Co-written with Shane Atkinson and Belled. I’m just here to die
mondomovies 