Poms

This comedy will have audiences rooting for the cheerleaders, who are played by a veteran cast of comedic actors and form a winning team -- and a funny film. "Codger comedies" that reach down and appeal to younger generations have proven to be a winning formula since Going in Style and The Golden Girls, but lately it's been harder to find laughs that bridge the age gap. However, Keaton's wonderful wit turns prickly cancer patient Martha into a funny, sympathetic character that the audience instantly gets behind. And Weaver elevates the "naughty grandma" stereotype by playing Sheryl with a sweet earnestness and a feisty spirit. Even the "Southern Belle" HOA president, as played by Celia Weston, feels less Cruella de Vil and more like that one control freak you can find in every neighborhood. They're characters we've seen a million times and that are often played with a broad goofiness, but these actresses (as well as Pam Grier and Rhea Perlman) bring out their humanity and make them real.

There's an authenticity that plays beneath the surface of what, in other hands, might be a "zany" film with a ludicrous plot. Credit the decade of experience that writer-director Zara Hayes has making documentaries about women like Billie Jean King, Dian Fossey, and Bangladeshi garment industry workers. That realism definitely comes into play in the film's casting: The high school cheerleaders don't look like Victoria's Secret models, and the senior cheerleaders don't have fish lips: The baby fat and the wrinkles are all present, and it's magnificent. This is a movie that walks the walk, given that its messages are about not trying to escape the inevitable: Just love yourself for who you are, and enjoy your life for what it is. The combination of Hayes, Keaton, and their fab ensemble (including 93-year-old Dorothy Steel, who elicits laugh-out-loud moments every time her security guard trainee is on camera) make for a comedy about retirees that will likely leave everyone grinning.