“Poms” is a comedy about a group of women who form a cheerleading squad at their retirement community, proving that you’re never too old to ‘bring it!’
“You’re never too old” is the underlying theme in “Poms,” the new comedy starring Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, and Pam Grier. It is a sentiment I strongly believe in and have all of my life. I am in my mid-to-late forties and many of my friends have started telling me that they feel old and that dreams they have been pursuing most of their life, they are thinking of giving up on. Many of these friends are actors that I have directed over the years and now feel that they’re getting too long in the tooth to be chasing after a dream that may never transpire. I continue to tell them that there will always be roles in movies and on TV for their age range and that many successful actors got their big break late in life, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, and Kathy Bates to name but a few. “Poms” takes that sentiment and infuses it with some genuinely humorous moments. The cast, overall, is appealing and you can’t help but walk out of the theater with a big smile on your face.
Martha (Diane Keaton) has lived in the same apartment in New York City for over 40 years and in that time, she never married or had kids and with the cost of living skyrocketing, she decides to move into a retirement community in Georgia to spend the rest of her days. She has been diagnosed with Cancer and has chosen to forgo chemotherapy so she can have some semblance of a normal life. She meets Sheryl (Jacki Weaver), her next-door neighbor and while initially, Martha tries to keep to herself, choosing to drown her sorrows in wine while watching TV, she eventually comes out of her shell, thanks to Sheryl’s insistence on them hanging out together.
All new residents are requested to join at least one club and if they don’t see anything they like, they are encouraged to start their own. When Sheryl discovers that Martha trained to be a cheerleader in high school but had to drop out to take care of her sick mother, she inspires her to start her own cheerleading club. In the beginning, she is very skeptical but as the two women’s friendship grows, Martha realizes that they both need to keep themselves occupied, especially this late in their lives. They befriend six other women who are tired with their mundane existence and who yearn for some excitement, no matter how small it may be. With the help of Sheryl’s grandson Ben (Charlie Tahan), who is covertly living with her because his parents turned out to be bad at their jobs, needing a venue, Sheryl manages to secure a spot for them at Ben’s high school during an upcoming pep rally. Martha insists that they are not ready but Sheryl says otherwise. They perform their act and fail miserably but when one of the high school cheerleading captains admires the elderly group and takes a liking to them, she agrees to train them for an upcoming contest but with the odds stacked against them, and each of their last nerves fried, they plow ahead regardless, with Martha leading the way!
“Poms” is as predictable as water. From the opening scene of Martha emptying her New York apartment, accompanied by her unenthusiastic voiceover, filling us in on her whole life up to this point, to her anticipated behavior of wanting to distance herself from everyone and everything at her new “home,” nothing about “Poms” is original or inspiring. What it does have going for it, however, is an engaging and enthusiastic cast. While Diane Keaton is billed as the star, for me, Ms. Keaton only ever plays Ms. Keaton in every film she appears in. She seems to have fallen into that mold for decades now and while she has starred in some enjoyable movies over the years (“Book Club” was a hoot), her glory days of “The Godfather” and “Annie Hall” are long behind her. Here, Jacki Weaver steals the show as Ms. Keaton’s spunky yet compassionate neighbor, whose libido is obviously still in full bloom and who is more than a match for some of the spiteful teenage cheerleaders they compete against. “Break a hip!” one arrogantly quips at her. “Get pregnant!” she sneeringly replies. Pam Grier, Rhea Perlman, Celia Weston, Patricia French, Carol Sutton, Phyllis Somerville, and Bruce McGill round out the enjoyable cast and while you can see the inevitable ending coming a mile away, watching these ladies perform and put their young competitors to shame, is worth the price of admission alone.
In theaters Friday, May 10th
