POMS Brings on the Cheer

Jeri Jacquin

Now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from writer/director Zara Hayes and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment are ladies that are ready to shake their POMS.

Martha (Diane Keaton) is down-sizing and simplifying her life by packing up and moving to a retirement community. Hoping to find peace and quiet, instead she discovers anything but. Neighbor Sheryl (Jacki Weaver) is running illegal poker parties out of her house and breaking more rules by having grandson Ben (Charlie Tahan) staying.

After a check in visit, Sheryl tries to motivate Martha to do anything to get her out of the house. Martha decides she can go one better and do what she missed in her younger years – become a cheerleader. The problem is getting past a very controlling Vicki (Celia Weston) who doesn’t like being challenged.

Martha finds other members with Alice (Rhea Perlman), Helen (Phyllis Somerville), Olive (Pam Grier), Phyllis (Patricia French), Evelyn (Ginny MacColl) and Ruby (Carol Sutton). Fun for the ladies makes Vicki turn on the group and deny them club status when an accident happens during a practice performance.

One person at that performance is Chloe (Alisha Boe) who is on the high school squad and her recording goes viral which doesn’t help the ladies cause. Martha and Sheryl meet Chloe and convince her to help them become better as the group comes together again.

This time they are going full on entering a cheer contest. Practicing takes every bit of time and a toll on Martha who has been keeping her own secret. Yet, when the day arrives, the women along with Ben and Chloe know this is their time to shine and nothing or no one is going to stand in their way!

Keaton as Martha is a woman feeling that there is only one way to deal with the last phase of her life and embraces it a little too deeply. It takes someone as flamboyant as neighbor Sheryl to change it. Keaton is fun, encouraging and looks like she is thoroughly enjoying this role. Weaver is absolutely hilarious with her way of living and taking no guff from anyone. She is the yin to Keaton’s yang that’s for sure!

Tahan as Ben is a young man caught in two different worlds and doing his best not to become too embarrassed. When he realizes that his grandmother and friends aren’t anywhere near that, he is all in. Boe as Chloe begins as a mean girl but me thinks it’s because she is hanging with mean girls. Being a part of what Martha and the girls are trying to accomplish changes to who her character truly is.

Perlman as Alice is hilarious and I’ll never look at golf stuff the same again. Grier as Olive is embracing her cheer side and her hubby doesn’t mind it either. French as Phyllis lets her red hair crazy fly. Somerville as Helen is the zen influence on the group. Sutton as Ruby just wants to have fun with the girls and MacColl as Evelyn has to sadly deal with family who don’t support her life but rather want to control it.

Other cast include Alexandra Ficken as Paige, David Maldonado as Tom, Karen Beyer as Barbara and Bruce McGill as Chief Carl.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us all to experience and re-experience in our own home theatres. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

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POMS on Blu-ray unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture solution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality and surround sound. Digital lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.

This is a heartwarming film about senior community living and the possibilities. For Martha it might not be too apparent as she has a plan of her own. Keaton gives her character all the emotion we have come to expect from this fine an iconic actress.

The film is very funny but at the same time very poignant in that sometimes we forget that being a senior citizen isn’t a reason to stop living. Instead it is a reason to live every moment doing what ever we’ve all wanted to do but maybe life got in the way along the line.

In the end – it is never to late to chase a dream!