Movie Review: The Fabulous Four

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A painful comedy. 

I did not come into this movie with high hopes. I expected nothing more than a couple chuckles and a decent way to pass some time (which is honestly all I expect from most "chick flicks"). So, it is saying something that this film still fell far short of my expectations. Not only was this a bad movie, but it was one that I felt embarrassed for watching. This is another one of those modern lighthearted comedies starring actresses that have reached an older age. In most of these movies the star elevate material that is just as great as they are. Yet even the talents of Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Megan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph can't salvage such a lousy and unfunny script. Rather than being charmed by their presence we simply feel embarrassed for them to appear in such a trainwreck. They try hard, in fact sometimes too hard but the film is still embarrassing. This movie is filled with jokes and silly situations from start to finish. However, there is not one laugh here. The movie goes from the cheapest and easiest laughs and even fails to deliver those. The gags revolve around these older women being sex obsessed, drug consuming, social media loving and immature. Unfortunately, there is little more to the humor than just this and these great actresses being reduced to embarrassingly over-the-top mugging. The characters in this film are complete and utter caricatures with nothing even slightly believable about them. This hurts the final act of this movie a lot, because it is then that the film wants you to take the romance and friendships somewhat seriously. But because the characters never feel real, it is impossible to do this. The main problem with these characters though is that there is little chemistry between them. This is a movie about the supposedly deep friendships these characters have with each other for decades. However, these characters never feel like they are truly best friends or that there is any connection deeper than them spending time together. This makes the whole storyline simply ring completely false. 

It is astonishing just how bad this film is.