Fun and bubbly
Three women, who have been friends since they went to school together, travel down to Key West, Florida, to go to the wedding of their friend, Marilyn, played by Bette Midler. Marilyn is a bit of a ditz, and turned to Tik Tok to her get over the death of her husband of 48 years – and then she met Brad at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). They’re now getting married, only 2 months after the death of her husband. The friends are determined to celebrate, and also have an intervention over her use of Tik Tok!
Sheryl Lee Ralph plays Kitty, who owns a medicinal marijuana farm, much to the disgust of her born-again daughter. Megan Mullaly plays Alice, a sex-crazed rock star, who visits Kitty to explain that Marilyn is getting married, and they need to get everyone together again – even Lou. Neither of them are sure how to do this, as Lou hasn’t spoken to Marilyn in 48 years, even though they were best friends joined at the hip growing up.
Lou is played by Susan Sarandon, and it seems strange to see her cast in the role of the geek, as she is gorgeous no matter what, even when they give her an ugly handbag and daggy wide brimmed hat. Lou is a renowned heart surgeon, who lives alone with her cats, the perfect “spinster” cliché. Alice does point out to her that she needs to live a little, because otherwise, “”You’re gonna be an old cat lady, and you’re gonna be alone, and you’re gonna have to have sex with your cats!”
Kitty and Alice know that Lou won’t attend Marilyn’s wedding… but she heads to Florida with them once they let her know that they entered her in a raffle, and she’s won a 6-toed cat from Ernest Hemingway’s house! And the look on Lou’s face when they arrive at the house in Florida to see Marilyn is priceless.
Mayhem does then occur as Lou is too gobsmacked to do much other than be dragged along to start with, and we find out that Marilyn hooked up with Lou’s boyfriend and married him. There’s some interesting discussions of the “girl code”, and twists and turns along the way, as there are a few plotlines that then wind around each other and come together as the wedding nears. The 3 younger women and gay man on a bachelorette holiday that the women meet up with in random situations are just hilarious.
I thought there was a kind of irony that Megan Mullaly plays the role of the singer, given there’s Bette Midler and Sheryl Lee Ralph on the cast, but Mullally does have an impressive background in musical theatre and is in a band, Nancy and Beth.
Australia’s own David Hirschfelder composed the original score, which included a cameo from Michael Bolton singing at a party the friends crash. There’s also a couple of nice moments as the women sing, I Can See Clearly Now.
While The Fabulous Four isn’t too deep and meaningful, it’s a great bit of fun, and something you can take your mates, and your mum, along and know that you’ll all have a laugh.
Reviewed by Michelle Baylis
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