Movies like Book Club and 80 for Brady have unlocked a subgenre of buddy comedies about women over 60.
After a certain birthday, it’s hard for women to get hired in Hollywood. That’s been made abundantly clear by the research commissioned by representation champions like Geena Davis and the pleas from actresses like Michelle Yeoh and Meryl Streep to create more quality roles for women 50+. That’s bad news for the working women trying to stay active in the industry as they age, but it’s just as disappointing for moviegoers.
The limited characters written for women past a certain age would have you believe that representation has an expiration date — that once you hit, say, 70, you aren’t entitled to entertainment you can relate to. Research has shown that the way age is portrayed can affect societal and individual views on aging, which can even impact how society treats aging adults.
In a survey conducted as part of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and NextFifty Initiative’s report Women Over 50: The Right to be Seen on Screen, only 25 percent of respondents 50+ said they’re “very satisfied” with the accuracy of characters portraying their age group, compared to 42 percent of respondents 18 to 49.
According to GDI, younger onscreen characters are more likely to be shown as funny or have a romantic storyline. When compared to men 50+, female characters of the same demographic are four times more likely to be shown as senile and/or frumpy; twice as likely to be shown as physically unattractive, unfashionable, and/or physically inactive; and seven times more likely to be depicted as homebound.
In the rare films that do feature actresses over the age of 70, most of those are playing sad sack supporting characters: a parent or grandparent, probably one who can’t figure out how to FaceTime or is deeply lonely (The Guilt Trip). If they actually get a leading role, they’re probably dying, ailing, or trying in vain to make up for lost time (Away From Her, Philomena).
If that were an accurate depiction of life after 70, none of us would want to age another year, let alone go see a movie during our remaining days.
Luckily, as of late, a few movies have broken through this barrier and shown later life as a period of growth, exploration, and plain old fun. Projects like Netflix’s Grace and Frankie and the 2018 film Book Club were major milestones in the way older women are shown living out their lives on-screen. In the latter, four friends — played by Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen, and Candice Bergen — look to spice up their relationships with their partners and themselves. (Because sexual exploration can happen at any age.) It brought in $68 million gross in North America, “a solid result for an older-skewing comedy,” according to Variety.
“I’d never read [a script] like Book Club, in which women of a certain age were the protagonists of their own story,” Alex Saks, the film’s producer, tells us. “They weren’t grandparents and they weren’t mothers — they were individuals. And in this case, they’re looking for love while enjoying friendship.” When she read the script, Saks says, “It felt like there was a pretty big hole in the marketplace.” She adds, “After the success of Book Club, a lot of other people started to see the hole.”
Welcome to a new age
Saks argues that the Book Club effect is why we’ve seen similar stories start to appear in multiplexes over the past few years, including 2023’s major hit 80 for Brady, a true story of four best friends — played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field, and Rita Moreno — who take a girls’ trip to the 2017 Super Bowl to see their hero Tom Brady play.
Audiences have also been treated to Keaton’s 2022 film Mack and Rita and 2019’s Poms; Fonda’s 2022 comedy Moving On; and Otherhood (starring Angela Bassett, Felicity Huffman, and Patricia Arquette). Soon we’ll see the release of Summer Camp, a movie about three childhood friends — Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, and Alfre Woodard, starring alongside Eugene Levy — attending their camp reunion.
The Book Club sequel is in theaters now: This time, the four leading ladies embark on a bachelorette trip for Fonda’s character to Italy — because why can’t you get married at the age of 80, and celebrate that milestone with your girlfriends while embracing a foreign culture?
A few years after the release of Book Club, MRC Film (Jerry and Marge Go Large, Knives Out) launched Landline Pictures, a new film production label targeting audiences over 50, with producer Amy Baer at the helm. “They surveyed all the legacy distribution companies and the streamers, and found that there was a real desire to have more content for an older audience,” Baer tells us.
Older women just want to have fun
Baer believes lighter buddy comedies are the ideal fare for older audiences. “If you talk to anyone over 50, they’ll tell you there’s nothing for them to watch,” she says. “Nobody over a certain age wants to watch a drama about death. That’s not an entertaining experience.” Says Baer, they’re much more likely to set aside time for a story about second chances at love, taking an adventure with friends, finding one’s tribe later in life, or other affirming themes. She believes that as we age more robustly, with many starting new romantic chapters or careers later in life, it’s even more important to show that vibrancy on screen. “When you create movies like Book Club and 80 for Brady, suddenly older people feel seen because these are themes they can relate to,” she says.
Younger people are ready for these types of characters, too. “I think we’re seeing more movies like this because people my age and younger are at a place where they’re comfortable questioning why we don’t look ahead with more excitement,” says Erin Simms, who wrote and produced both Book Club films. “There’s such an obsession with youth. But I want to look forward, because I can’t go back — none of us can. So why are we not keeping comedy in our life? Why are we not exploring how much fun life can still be?”
Simms is passionate about showing the positive side of aging. “The stigma that I think we’re breaking through slowly is that when a woman hits a certain age, she becomes invisible and she’s no longer part of the conversation.” She adds, “These actresses are coming at you with the history and life experiences that you only get when you’ve reached this age. So why is it that after all of this, people are no longer interested in you, when you’re probably your most interesting?”
It helps that iconic actresses want to participate in lighter fare, too: “Making comedies is always fun — I think that’s a big piece of it for Diane [Keaton],” says Saks. “She chooses joy.”
When promoting the first Book Club in 2018, Steenburgen said she was attracted to the script because she felt it was important for young people “to have something to look forward to in life.” She said, “You might not be like any of the women in this movie but hopefully you will want to be alive every minute of your life… In terms of the movies we look at, women our age are invisible or they’re some eccentric loon that comes in and says hello now and then. These are real women.”
It’s not enough
While the value of depicting the pleasures of aging is evident, and the trend is embraced by many, it’s going to take more than a few movies about older (mostly white) women enjoying life to detect an impact and reverse the misbelief that relevance wanes with age. According to Stacy Smith, Ph.D., founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, “The percentage of women 65 years of age and older in the 100 top 2022 films is no different than the percentage from 2009. Essentially, there has been no change.”
Saks believes that’s partially because there aren’t enough women 60-plus in decision-making seats in the film industry. “We need a couple more successes like Book Club and 80 for Brady for buddy comedies about older women to become a trend,” she says. “Right now, a lot of these movies are still being made independently. If and when the studios start making them with more frequency, then you can say the landscape changed.”
Baer agrees. “I think it’s really about continuing to make the case to production and distribution companies that there’s a business to be had here — I don’t think the audience needs convincing.”
While the quantity of roles for older women isn’t increasing, the quality of those few roles does seem to be shifting. And the films that are getting made are focusing on how wonderful life can be after raising kids or retiring. Baer points out: “Are there enough of them? No. But are those that are being made for the most part working? Yes.”
Saks recalls one particular social-media moment that resonated with her — and made her feel like all her work has been worthwhile. “One of my favorite tweets that I saw after Book Club premiered was, ‘I just saw Book Club in theaters. It gave me hope that I might have sex again before I die.’ That’s why we made the movie.”
