Review: '80 For Brady' casts four talented women and fumbles its comic opportunities with them.

I try not to fall back on the late Gene Siskel’s litmus test — “Is this film more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch?” — but with the disappointing “80 For Brady,” I can’t help but think that the interviews stars Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Lily Tomlin have given on the publicity tour are more engaging than the movie they’re promoting.

In this “based on a true story” comedy, the actors play four longtime friends who in 2017 gather every Sunday in the fall to watch their favorite team, the New England Patriots — and, specifically, their favorite player, quarterback Tom Brady. 

Louella, or Lou (Tomlin), is the ringleader, at whose home they gather. Trish (Fonda) is the flirt, still rocking it in her 80s (with the help of several wigs) — and she writes erotic fan fiction based on Patriots star Rob Gronkowski. (This is a real thing, folks.) Maura (Moreno) is a widow, and lives in her husband’s nursing home for the company, not because she needs care. And Betty (Field) is a retired MIT professor who got into football because of the stats.

We’re told that Lou is a cancer survivor, and that Brady was her inspiration during the dark days of chemo — well, Brady and her friends, who have made the weekly game-watching a tradition. Lou decides, on the spur of the moment, that the foursome needs a road trip, and when a Boston sports-talk show is giving away four tickets to Super Bowl LI in Houston, in which the Patriots are playing the Atlanta Falcons, Lou enters with her tale of Brady-inspired recovery. Next thing you know, Lou is calling up the others, with news that they’re going to Houston.

Much of the movie is spent on the women’s wacky adventures in the pre-game revelry, from Betty entering a hot-wing contest (hosted by Guy Fieri) to Trish getting romanced by a retired football star (Harry Hamlin). Then there’s the game itself, which offers even more adventures.

What it doesn’t offer is anything genuinely funny or entertaining. The script — by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins (who worked together on “Booksmart”) — plays out as a “Golden Girls” episode artificially stuffed with celebrity cameos (like Fieri) and advertising for the National Football League, the Patriots, and Brady himself. (Brady is one of the movie’s executive producers, and I hope he has a better career plan than moviemaking now that he’s retired again.) Director Kyle Marvin seems to be floundering, trying to cram it all in and still create something engaging.

The thing is, I love all four of these stars — I don’t care to know anyone who doesn’t — and it’s kind of sad to see them stuck in this by-the-numbers silliness. There are moments in “80 for Brady” where they stop the forced craziness of the plot and just talk to each other like real people. Too bad there aren’t more of those moments, but maybe somebody will take them out for lunch.

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’80 for Brady’

★1/2

Opening Friday, February 3, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some drug content and some suggestive references. Running time: 98 minutes.