The night before Tom Brady rocked the NFL world with his retirement announcement, he walked a red carpet in Los Angeles alongside movie stars.
Brady spent Tuesday evening at the premiere of “80 for Brady,” a movie that’s loosely based on a real group of older women friends who attended Super Bowl LI together to cheer on Brady and the New England Patriots.
Brady appears as himself in the film, which hits theaters this weekend, and also served as a producer on the project.
What is ‘80 for Brady” about?
“80 for Brady,’ which stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, is about four friends “living life to the fullest” on a “wild trip” to the Super Bowl, according to the movie’s official website.
The “80 for Brady” trailer shows the women fawning over Brady and his Patriots teammates before deciding to head to the Super Bowl — without tickets — to cheer on the team in person. They take part in fan events like wing-eating contests in hopes of winning tickets to the big event.
“80 for Brady” is rated PG-13 and has a runtime of 98 minutes. The trailer includes some sex- and drug-related jokes.
How did Tom Brady get involved?
“80 for Brady” became a movie in large part due to the efforts of the grandson of one of the members of the real-life Brady fan club that it’s based upon, according to People magazine. His pitching work in Hollywood caught the attention of Brady himself.
“Following his short-lived retirement in 2022, it was announced that Brady would produce “80 For Brady” via his 199 Productions banner, alongside Donna Gigliotti and Endeavor Content,” People reported.
In addition to producing it, Brady makes a cameo in the film. This week, he spoke to People about the joy of watching the completed movie alongside his kids.
“Families have always bonded over sports, but now they got a really cool sports movie to check out about some amazing women who acted and it’s a great story,” he said. “Everyone is going to have a lot of fun watching it.”
What happened during Super Bowl LI?
“80 for Brady” gives viewers a chance to relive one of the wildest Super Bowls of all time. During the game, which took place on Feb. 5, 2017, Brady and the Patriots came back from 28-3 down against the Atlanta Falcons to win 34-28 in overtime.
“No team had ever made up more than a 10-point deficit to win a Super Bowl. Brady led the Patriots on five straight scoring drives that equaled 31 straight points,” The Associated Press reported at the time.
After the game, Brady’s coach and teammates credited him with staying confident even at their lowest point.
“Tom has had a lot of great ones. Tonight was one of them,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters, according to The Associated Press.
Reviews for ‘80 for Brady’
Although “80 for Brady” has not yet been widely released, reviews are trickling in. Critics generally agree that the film is imperfect, but many wrote that they still had fun watching.
“The main cast is talented enough that their genuine chemistry can gloss over the film’s many comedic shortcomings,” wrote Leigh Monson for AV Club.
Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post said, “A serviceable mash-up of sitcom and sports flick, “80 for Brady” should please fans of Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and/or Tom Brady. Everybody else might want to call a timeout.”
The Uproxx review of the movie was titled: “‘80 For Brady’ Is A Weirdly Fascinating Train Wreck.”