John's Review of "Poms"

by John Zenoni

One film I need to comment on, and one I really did not expect to review, much less watch, is ‘Poms’ with Diane Keaton. When I think of Diane Keaton I think of two things: one being her famous role in Woody Allen’s film ‘Annie Hall’; and the second is her apparent love of making feel-good, formulaic comedies, at least for the past several years. It seems that her ambition is to no longer play in more serious, Academy Award-recognition type roles, which of course is her prerogative.

I didn't expect to think much of her latest film ‘Poms’ as I just knew it was going to be a cheesy, corny movie and there are some moments in the film that do exhibit those characteristics. However, the movie does actually have several things going for it. The story is pretty original, which is about a woman who receives life-changing news from her doctor. She then decides to make a significant change and sell all her stuff and move to an adult/retirement community in a completely different state. What makes this story unique from others is that Diane Keaton’s character decides that she's going to fulfill her previous missed opportunity when she was younger of performing as a cheerleader in a competition. Needless to say, her auditioning other ladies in the adult/retirement community is the other plus for the film, as those scenes are pretty funny. Another positive is that the characters all work well together and you get a sense of camaraderie among them.

It's a good story with a positive message and the friendships that you see develop throughout the course of the film make it a nice watch. If you want a comedy to lighten up your mood, you could definitely do worse.