• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Event Calendar
    • Submit Event
  • About Us
    • Our Contributors
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Arts & Entertainment
    • Comedy
    • On Screen Dayton
    • On Screen Dayton Reviews
    • Road Trippin’
      • Cincinnati
      • Columbus
      • Indianapolis
    • Spectator Sports
    • Street-Level Art
    • Visual Arts
  • Dayton Dining
    • DMM’s Brunch Guide
    • Restaurants with Private Dining Rooms
    • Dayton Food Trucks
    • Quest
    • Ten Questions
  • Dayton Music
    • Music Calendar
  • On Stage Dayton
    • On Stage Dayton Reviews
  • Active Living
    • Canoeing/Kayaking
    • Cycling
    • Hiking/Backpacking
    • Runners
  • How to Support Dayton Businesses, Nonprofits During COVID-19

Dayton Most Metro

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

McCoy on Movies: Poms

May 9, 2019 By Tabari McCoy

Poms a safe Mother’s Day option for the Old Country Buffet audience

“All right ladies … Let’s get to the climatic inspiring dance number or we don’t have a movie!” Martha (Diane Keaton, center in the “M”) leads her fellow retirement community friends in a dance routine in a scene from POMS. Credit: Kyle Bono Kaplan © 2019 STX Financing, LLC. All rights reserved.


WATCH THE TRAILER(S) HERE:


KEY CAST MEMBERS: Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Pam Grier, Alisha Boe, Phyllis Somerville, Charlie Tahan, Bruce McGill, Celia Weston and Rhea Perlman 


DIRECTOR(S): Zara Hayes
WEB SITE: https://www.pomsmovie.com/
THE BACK STORY: Martha (Diane Keaton) is a woman coming to grips with her own mortality, which, given her health, makes sense. It’s also why after conducting an estate sale, she’s heading to a seemingly idyllic Sun Springs retirement community in Georgia to spend her final days in peace and quiet.


Then she meets her neighbor Sheryl (Jacki Weaver) and realizes that’s not going to happen.


Forging an unexpected friendship with Sheryl, Martha comes up with an idea – since she’s required to join or create one by her new community’s bylaws – to form a cheerleading club. This leads to Ruby (Carol Sutton), Olive (Pam Grier), Alice (Rhea Perlman), Phyllis (Patricia French), Evelyn (Ginny McCool) and Helen (Phyllis Somerville) joining their aspiring – or is that perspiring? – team, even if it is to the disdain of community activities leader Vicki (Celia Watson). And if Vicki has to pull out Chief Carl (Bruce McGill) to get her way, she will in a heartbeat. 


But after a video of Martha’s makeshift squad goes viral, they are faced with a choice: Give up on their dreams or prove that you’re never too old to show your spirit.
THE REVIEW: Poms isn’t a good movie, per se; it’s a sweet movie with a good heart and a few chuckles along the way. At 91 minutes, it’s short enough to sit through without feeling a strong urge to leave the theater, but it’s nothing you’re going to revel in. It’s nowhere near raunchy by any means to steer into ribald comedy territory, but it has enough anatomy related jokes that will be dirty enough for anyone who regularly dines at an Old Country Buffet or Cracker Barrel. Likewise, the movie’s pacing and story feels like a mix of a too tame for The Golden Girls but too hardcore for Lifetime or CBS, which, given all the sadness it shows in regards to getting older before attempting to salvage a genuinely uplifting, “nice” finale, Poms doesn’t seem to have a specific enough focus to make you feel the way you should.Then again, Poms isn’t really for anyone under the senior circuit – and that’s not a bad thing. It’s perfect palatable celluloid for daughters to take their mothers to or for seniors to enjoy as the characters (especially Weaver as the film’s resident sexpot/free spirit) are exactly like the members of your mom’s bridge or book club that may or may not exist. Poms isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel; it’s just putting a fresh batch of grease on the wheel to give it one last ride.

Weaver steals the show in Poms; Keaton is more or less the straight woman who serves to keep the movie moving forward. Her character mopes, suffers through bouts of vomiting and feels like she’s just a lady you feel sad for and sad to be around for the first half of the film; problem is, once things get going, you don’t care about her as much as you do how she will get the rest of her squad going as they are inherently more interesting … Even though your interest may never peak with a paint-by-numbers script saved only by the cast’s genuine enthusiasm for each other’s company. Alisha Boe and Charlie Tahan add some youthful exuberance to as Martha’s high school cheerleader rival turned coach and Sheryl’s awkward grandson add some much needed youthful exuberance (to the somewhat stale script, NOT the cast), but only in the way a grandparent is proud of them graduating high school.

And ultimately, that’s the main thing that hinders Poms: Instead of going for its full potential with a game-changing break from the routine, it gives you a safe one sure to please audiences who enjoy a nice, simple one they are used to. Poms will occasionally rub your funny bone, but you definitely won’t fall over laughing and will be able to get up and leave the theater easily once it’s done.

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):

 

Filed Under: On Screen Dayton, The Featured Articles Tagged With: diane keaton, Pam Grier, Poms

About Tabari McCoy

Tabari McCoy recorded his first comedy album in his basement when he was either 10 or 11 years of age. But it was terrible – and like the item central to the plot of Indiana Jones and The Lost Ark – it was filed away, never to be heard again.

An award-winning journalist, Tabari continues his writing pursuits today – most prominently at McCoy On Movies, his online movie blog Now with his debut album Laughing With a Panther (Rooftop Comedy) in stores and his national TV debut on Fox's Laughs under his belt, his future on stage is looking bigger and brighter ... Or that's at least what he tells all the financial institutions to whom he owes money.

But no matter what he says, he does it with one simple goal in mind: Making people laugh – and hoping he doesn’t anger his family or God in the process.


Comments

Comments

Primary Sidebar

Featured Events

  • Mon
    18
  • Tue
    19
  • Wed
    20
  • Thu
    21
  • Fri
    22
  • Sat
    23
  • Sun
    24

25% off Pizza Monday

11:30 am | Oregon Express

Open Mic Monday

6:30 pm | The Barrel

The Road to Effective Estate Planning

7:00 pm | Virtual Event

Monday Night Acoustic MAYHEM

7:30 pm | Good Time Charlie’s

Leadership Dayton Class of 2022 Information Breakfast

8:30 am | Virtual Event

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Spaghetti Tuesday

5:00 pm | The Trolley Stop

Burger Night

5:00 pm | Watermark

Jazz with Gail and Larry

5:00 pm | Spirited Goat Coffee House

Tuesday Trivia

7:00 pm | The Dublin Pub

Jan Story Slam

7:00 pm | ZOOM

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Trivia w/ DagaTrivia

6:00 pm | Eudora Brewing Company

Wednesday Trivia

6:30 pm | Troll Pub at the Wheelhouse

Open Mic with Blues Breakdown Band

7:00 pm | Hank’s Local

Gem City Market Walking Warriors

7:00 pm | Gem City Market

Wednesday Night Trivia w/ Dan Profitt

7:00 pm | Oinkadoodlemoo & Brew

Marvel Cinematic Universe Trivia

7:00 pm | Toxic Brew Company

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Know Your Knots 101

6:00 pm | online

January Salon, Featuring Katie Clark Gabbard

6:00 pm | ZOOM

Jenna Drees Live Music in the Loft

7:00 pm | Moeller Brew Barn

Bingo

8:00 pm | Trolley Stop

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Tinned Gourmet Seafoods Tasting Event

5:00 pm | Salt Block Biscuit Company

Latin Dance Party

5:30 pm | The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Route 88

6:30 pm | Mr Boro’s Tavern

Clayton Anderson with Jacob William

7:00 pm | JD Legends Entertainment Complex

Music Bingo!

7:00 pm | Devil Wind Brewing

Derik Zoo

8:00 pm | Wiley’s Comedy Club

Cooking Class: Three Kings’ Day: A Puerto Rican Celebration

8:30 pm | DLM Culinary Center

RiverScape Virtual Winter Yoga

9:30 am |

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Ronald McDonald House Cooking Together

6:00 pm | your house

Dave’s & Confused

6:00 pm | The Phone Booth Lounge

DPAA presents Beethoven 8 and Florence Price

6:00 pm | Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

Live Music With Generations Band

6:30 pm | Sojourners Brewstillery

Until Rust & Friends

6:30 pm | Courtyard Lounge

Derik Zoo

7:15 pm | Wiley’s Comedy Club

DPAA presents Beethoven 8 and Florence Price

8:30 pm | Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Chili Fest

10:00 am | Findlay Market- Cincy

Rivers and Streams of the Miami Valley — and How Citizens can Make a Difference to Protect Them

2:30 pm | zoom

DLM Virtual Class! Sunday Supper Chicken & Dumplings

5:00 pm | ZOOM

More Events…

DMM E-Newsletter


Give us your email address and we'll send you our DMM E-Newsletters
Email:  
For Email Marketing you can trust
Back to Top

Copyright © 2021 Dayton Most Metro · Terms & Conditions · Log in