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THE FABULOUS FOUR

"Marred by Gratuitous Objectionable Content"

Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)
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What You Need To Know:

THE FABULOUS FOUR is a comedy about two middle-aged friends, Alice and Kitty, going to attend their friend Marilyn’s wedding in Key West, Florida. They trick a fourth friend, Louise, to go with them, even though Marilyn and Louise haven’t spoken to one another in years. Lou (short for Louise) wants to leave when she finds out she’s been tricked. However, she stays, because she’s met two nice older gentlemen there. Eventually, the movie reveals the reason Lou hated Marilyn for so many years. Also, Lou unintentionally gives Marilyn a reason to hate her.

THE FABULOUS FOUR is a funny exercise in personal dynamics. It has some nice, touching moments of forgiveness, reconciliation and friendship. However, the script and dialogue could use some rewriting. Worse, THE FABULOUS FOUR has too much unnecessary objectionable content. For example, Kitty runs a marijuana business, and the others eat some of her pot gummies. Also, there are 36 light profanities, two “f” words and some lewd jokes. Finally, THE FABULOUS FOUR has a politically correct subplot about Kitty’s strict Christian daughter being estranged from Kitty’s homosexual grandson.

Content:

(RoRo, PCPC, HoHo, Ab, C, B, LLL, V, S, N, A, DD, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong Romantic Non-Christian worldview with a politically correct subplot where a Christian daughter is estranged from her homosexual son, the daughter’s mother makes a few snide comments about her daughter’s Christian beliefs and her church, but the movie has some redemptive, morally uplifting content embracing forgiveness, reconciliation, friendship, and kindness;

Foul Language:
At least 11 obscenities (including two “f” words and two “s” words) and 36 light profanities (mostly OMG);

Violence:
Light comical violence such as a woman on a public sidewalk comically throws an object at a man who steals her purse and hits him;

Sex:
Some lewd sex jokes, mostly revolving around a middle-aged nightclub singer who fools around with a younger man behind closed doors, there’s a story about the past where one woman steals another woman’s boyfriend and marries him, which causes resentment and hatred, and a side character is a homosexual man;

Nudity:
Upper male nudity at a club featuring male dancers in the vein of a Chippendales;

Alcohol Use:
Alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Brief smoking, one of four major characters runs a marijuana business, other people eat some of her pot gummies, including one lady who thought they were candy and over-indulges; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Two women deceive and trick a third woman, and an older woman meets an attractive older man, but he doesn’t tell her he’s engaged to be married soon.

More Detail:

THE FABULOUS FOUR is a comedy about two middle-aged friends going to attend a friend’s wedding in Key West, Florida and tricking a fourth friend to go with them even though she and the bride-to-be haven’t spoken in years. Starring Bette Middler and Susan Sarandon as the two feuding women, THE FABULOUS FOUR is a funny exercise in personal dynamics, with some nice, touching moments of forgiveness, reconciliation and the bonds of friendship, but it has some scriptwriting flaws and too much gratuitous negative content, including lots of mostly light crude language, two “f” words, references to marijuana, lewd jokes, and a politically correct subplot about the conflict between an adult Christian daughter and her estranged homosexual son.

Bette Middler plays Marilyn, who moved down to Key West, Fla. after her beloved husband’s death. She’s unexpectedly met a new fella, however, and they’ve become engaged. She calls two of her old college friends, Alice (Megan Mullaly) and Kitty (Sheryl Lee Ralph), to fly down and attend the wedding. However, she doesn’t phone her best friend in college, Louise (Lou for short), played by Susan Sarandon, because they now hate each other.

Alice and Kitty don’t go along with Marilyn’s plans, however. They secretly invite Lou to come with them to Key West, enticing her with her love for Ernest Hemingway and cats, who Hemingway also loved. Hemingway loved cats so much that he established a cat sanctuary at the house he owned in Key West for many years before he died.

Of course, when Lou finds out she’s been tricked, she’s not at all happy. She almost leaves, but the other women, including Marilyn, convince her to stay.

Eventually, the reason Lou hated Marilyn for so many years is revealed. Also, Lou unintentionally gives Marilyn another reason to disinvite her from her wedding. So, the question becomes, Can Lou and Marilyn get past the old wounds and the new wounds?

THE FABULOUS FOUR is fun to watch, mostly because of the talents of the four actresses playing the four old friends. There are multiple funny moments, plot twists involving crazy misunderstandings and some touching redemptive moments stressing forgiveness, reconciliation and friendship.

That said, the dialogue and character development could use some polishing. Worse, THE FABULOUS FOUR has too much unnecessary objectionable content. For example, there are at least 36 light profanities and two “f” words. There are also some lewd jokes, mostly revolving around Alice, who’s a nightclub singer. In addition, Kitty has a marijuana dispensing business, and Lou accidentally eats too many of Kitty’s potent gummies in one comical sequence. Finally, Kitty’s daughter, Leslie, has just joined a strict Christian church. So, Leslie strongly disapproves of her mother’s pot business, and her mother complains about her church’s strict beliefs. There’s also a politically correct subplot where Leslie has banished her homosexual son, who works as a male dancer who strips down to a thong.

Thus, THE FABULOUS FOUR has a strong Romantic Non-Christian worldview and unacceptable content that irreparably mars the movie and its positive elements.



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