Scheduling a movie’s release date is an imperfect science and occasionally an art. Just look at the masterpiece that was “Barbenheimer.” While most are open to experimentation in figuring out just what audiences want and when in the wild west of modern theatrical moviegoing, there’s also an unwritten rule that it’s best to leave big superhero movie weekends clear of competition.
But whoever thought to open the third-act female friendship comedy “The Fabulous Four” alongside ” Deadpool & Wolverine ” deserves a raise. Because if any audience is being underserved on the opening weekend of an oxygen-sucking, violent and self-referential superhero mashup, it’s women over 60. So, what better way to escape the merc with a mouth than a trip to Key West with Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally? In the vein of “80 for Brady” and “Book Club,” “The Fabulous Four” may not be a great movie, but it’s also better than it looks.
Although it strains for raucousness with edibles and a parasailing expedition gone wrong, there is something admirably sane about it too even if you don’t believe a single moment. It begins, as many of these kinds of films do, with a somewhat tortured explanation of why these women became friends in their youth. Though it nods at a slight age difference between college peers Lou (Sarandon) and Marilyn (Midler) and the two gals they met in New York, Alice (Mullally) and Kitty (Ralph), it’s better to no.