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This film reminds us that fun, friendship and new adventures are ageless

April 30, 2023

I thought I was doing my daughter a favor when I agreed to watch the movie “80 for Brady” with her. But it turned out to be the other way around. Although I’m not much of a sports fan, and, unlike my daughter, definitely not in love with football star Tom Brady, I do understand why one of the 80-year-old female characters in the film described him thus:

“What a beautiful man. So well hydrated.”

Based on the true story of four, 80ish lifelong friends who are die-hard Brady fans, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda and Sally Field melt into the characters. The four women travel to watch Brady play in the Super Bowl and laughable, crazy chaos ensues as they live out the adventure of their lives. Although it’s not the first time these actresses have made me laugh and cry in their performances about aspects of older age, this story hit home.

They could have been me and my three closest friends — we called ourselves The Four Squares, a name created one day while we were having lunch in Pasadena at the now-defunct Beckham Place. Louise outlined our table with her hand and declared “just like this table the four of us are a perfect square.” The name stuck. But not the “Squares.”

Although I am now the only remaining Square, I always refer to us in the plural. Sometimes I take the “Squares” with me when I go shopping for clothes. I can still picture the three of them circled around me fussing over the wedding dress I bought when I married George.

I still ask their opinions, especially if I’m thinking about doing something I’m a little unsure about. “Do you think it’s okay for me to have dinner with a man I met in my grief class?” Three heads nod yes in unison.

Though some have referred to “80 for Brady” as an exaggerated piece of fluff, I applaud the message it sends that having fun is not something you grow out of. Fun and friendship and new adventures are ageless. When my mother was 100 she said she still felt like a 26-year-old woman inside. I think that’s something to look forward to.

Email [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin and at patriciabunin.com.

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Orange County Register

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This film reminds us that fun, friendship and new adventures are ageless

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