The Fabulous Four (2024)

The title might make some think of the Beatles, but this is not a musical film but rather another contribution to the genre of films focusing on rambunctious senior citizens—you know, movies like Eighty for Brady, The Book Club, and  Summer Camp. Jocelyn Moorhouse, directing from Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly raunchy script, have gathered four older women who were friends in college and are guaranteed to amuse you, even if the story is scarcely believable.

Susan Sarandon plays Lou, a heart surgeon who loves cats and Hemingway. She made me think of the “cat lady” that a current vice presidential candidate famously put down, arousing considerable controversy. Of “the fabulous four,” she is the most serious and restrained, and we soon learn, least willing to forgive.

Megan Mullally is Alice, in college a wild child and now a grower of marijuana.

Sheryl Lee Ralph plays Kitty, whose born-again Christian daughter wants to put her in a retirement home, the daughter also having broken off with her own son when he came out of the closet.

Bette Midler is Marilyn, always the life of the party. A few months after her husband died, she meets in Key West a desirable man and decides to marry him.

It is Marilyn’s wedding that brings the four together, though not without a deceptive plan to lure Lou to head south. Kitty and  Lou are to be bridesmaids, and they want Lou to join them, even though Marilyn has not invited her. However, Lou still is hurting from a betrayal some fifty years ago. Marilyn had stolen Lou’s boyfriend, married him and lived with him for all those decades. She and Lou have not talked to each other since then.

Megan and Kitty concoct a plan that Lou cannot turn down. Counting on her love for cats Hemingway, who also was a cat lover and resident of Key West, they lie that she has been chosen to receive a descendant of Hemingway’s pet cat, which will be awarded her at his former residence in that city. (I know, it’s hard to believe that someone bright enough to become a heart surgeon could be so gullible as to accept their word without some kind of proof! But then, there would have been no movie if she had not.)

There are several silly adventures in Key West, including Lou’s encounter with two charming bachelors Bruce Greenwood and Timothy V. Murphy. They also encounter Kitty’s gay grandson performing in a male strip club. And a trio of younger vacationers whom Lou had met on the plane keep turning up, full of admiration for Lou.

If all you want is almost two hours of amusing escape, this trite but enjoyable film provides it. Virtually everything the women do reveals what hedonists they all are and how some upper class folk consider drug use as a source of comedy rather than danger.  I found myself laughing a lot, even though I knew how shallow the humor is. But now I find myself hoping that these excellent female actors will find a script more worthy of their talents.

No questions for this bit of funny fluff.