Women of a Certain Age..."The Hot Flashes"

They shoot...they miss...

The Story:

A small Texas town is facing the loss of their mobile cancer-screening mobile.  In an attempt to raise the money to keep the valuable asset operational, a group of middle-aged ladies, all former basketball champs in high school, challenge the current girls champs to a charity fund-raising event, best 2 out 3 to hopefully save the day.

But wait, there's more!

Much, much more!

In fact, too much for one movie to hope to contain.

And therein lies the problem.

Given the plot synopsis, you have the cute idea for a Breast Cancer movie of the week type of affair.  In fact, tone down the language and some of the other scenes, and this would be a perfectly serviceable comedy film with a message that could be trotted out every year as a reminder of breast cancer survivor month.

But no...

They also want to make this a message movie about generation gaps...

Mother/daughter relationships...

Marital infidelities...

Race relations...

Same sex couples...

Politics in the South...

Bullying...

And probably 4 or 5 others that I'm forgetting about.

: /

Seriously, it was too much for this one movie, and the movie never really could get its focus and tell a coherent story as there was too much distraction from the colliding mini-stories it was trying to tell.  Just when some momentum begins to roll with the movie, some subplot comes along and derails the thing.

Which is a shame, as it's a waste of a talented cast:

Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Wanda Sykes, Camryn Manheim, Virginia Madsen and Eric Roberts most notably.

As if there aren't many roles for women in their 40s/50s, then you create a story specifically for that demographic, but sadly,  it just doesn't click.

They meant well, but sometimes less is more.

This movie could have used some trimming or at least a solid vision of what it wanted to be.  Had they focused on the importance of the game to keep the breast cancer clinic open, this would have worked.

I watched it on disc, but now it is available for streaming on Netflix if you're interested.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, once was enough.