The Hot Flashes
By Sandie Angulo Chen,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Older women may still have game, but comedy drops the ball.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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What's the Story?
Beth Humphrey (Brooke Shields) is the proud mother of Jocelyn (Charlotte Grant), a Texas high school basketball champ. When Beth discovers that her late friend's mobile mammogram clinic has to close, she decides that she's going to find a way to save it. After remembering her own basketball glory days, Beth approaches a group of other women nearing 50 who were on the same state championship team 30 years earlier: sexy divorcee Clementine (Virginia Madsen), closeted car dealer Ginger (Daryl Hannah), pot-loving biker Roxie (Camryn Manheim), and widowed mayor Florine (Wanda Sykes). Their reunited team, called THE HOT FLASHES, challenges the high school squad to a set of charity games -- and, in the process, rediscovers the importance of friendship.
Is It Any Good?
If not for the swearing and the pot jokes, The Hot Flashes would be exactly the sort of feel-good, feminist-lite comedy that would air on Lifetime. In fact, the women's cable network is even referenced in the comedy (by the Hot Flashes' volunteer coach, comedic actor/stunt man Mark Povinelli)). On TV, the movie's cliched jokes about menopause, nearing 50, and dealing with sagging body parts, would have been expected and appropriate, but in a feature film they get old faster than you can say "hot flash."
There are a few positives to the movie -- the lesson the women teach the girls about tolerance (one of the younger girls makes gay jokes about Ginger), the way the older women come into their own and stop bickering, and how Beth learns to value herself enough to kick her cheating husband to the curb. Still, despite the occasional laugh, this is a comedy more likely to leave you cold than burning with a need to ever see it again.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can discuss how The Hot Flashes compares to other sports movies. Do you think this movie is different because it deals with women instead of men?
The movie portrays recreational drug use by adults nearing 50. Parents: What conversation can you have with your teens about the effects of drinking and drugs?
How do the older women resolve and deal with their differences? How do their friendships compare to those of the girls on the high school team?
Movie Details
- In theaters: July 12, 2013
- On DVD or streaming: August 13, 2013
- Cast: Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Virginia Madsen
- Director: Susan Seidelman
- Studio: Vertical Entertainment
- Genre: Comedy
- Topics: Sports and Martial Arts, Friendship
- Run time: 99 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: some sexual content and drug use
- Last updated: February 9, 2023
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