POMS

POMS is a comedy about a woman with ovarian cancer who moves from New York City to Georgia and starts a cheerleading club in a retirement community. POMS has several laugh out loud moments and extols friendship and looking out for other people, but it’s clouded by lots of foul language, sexual humor, light references to substance abuse, and other objectionable content.

POMS begins in New York City, where Martha (Diane Keaton) is having an estate sale. In the next scene, Martha packs up the remainder of her belongings and drives to Georgia, where she moves into a house in a retirement community called Sun Springs. Vicki, the community’s “know-it-all” spokesperson, shows Martha around and explains that there are plenty of activities and clubs for residents to do. If not, members can create one of their own. When asked why she moved, Martha responds “to die,” only she’s not kidding. Martha actually has ovarian cancer.

Martha’s next-door neighbor, Sheryl, introduces herself, but Martha’s reluctant to befriend her right away. Over time, Martha lets down her guard, and the two become close pals. One night while discussing their backgrounds, Martha opens up about how she was almost a cheerleader in high school, but never had the opportunity to perform because her mother got sick and needed care. Then, a lightbulb goes off in her mind. Why not start a cheer club of her own at Sun Springs?

Sheryl agrees to be one of the inaugural members of the club if Martha teaches her grandson, who lives with Sheryl, how to drive. Martha reluctantly agrees. The women hold auditions for the club and gain six recruits!

The squad encounters some opposition from one of the women’s son, who thinks it’s a ludicrous idea. Also, Vicki looks for any reason to cut the club and tie up their rehearsal space. Sheryl tries to help find a new location to rehearse but accidentally ends up booking them to perform at a high school pep rally, where they become a laughing stock and viral sensation at the hands of Chloe, one of the high school cheer captains.

Motivated to keep going, Martha and Sheryl go to Chloe’s house and threaten to tell her parents about a party she threw if she doesn’t help them with choreography and with entering a new cheer competition in the “18+” category. There’s only one thing. The competition is just three weeks away.

Will Chloe say yes? What will become of the squad? How will Martha’s health hold up?

POMS has a clever storyline and several laugh out loud moments, mainly pertaining to age-related humor. Keaton and Weaver deliver satisfactory performances with great comedic timing, and the movie as a whole is well-paced and has clear shots that don’t distract the viewer’s attention. POMS has a moral worldview where characters say sorry for some of their wrongdoing and show the value in true friendship and not looking down on people because they’re too old or young. Additionally, there’s one particular instance where Martha shows respect to her late mother’s memory.

On the other hand, POMS also has some light Romantic worldview with dialogue like, “the only thing that matters is what we think about ourselves.” and the characters are cheering for “themselves” rather than a team. In one scene, a character says “namaste,” drawing on a Hindu worldview. In another scene, characters comment on the fact that a wife’s husband won’t allow her to cheerlead because he’s worried “about the morality of it” and would liken her to a promiscuous woman (that’s putting it nicely). Finally, many scenes are clouded by excess foul language, sexual humor, a couple light references to substance abuse, and other objectionable content. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for POMS.