Sheryl Lee Ralph is a quarter of The Fantastic Fourthe latest addition to an emerging genre of films that follow friends over 65 as they embark on adventures and learn the importance of lasting friendships.
Ralph told Yahoo Entertainment that the film is coming to theaters at the perfect time because it’s important to see a group of older women “getting their lives back on track” on screen, despite the ageism that often plagues Hollywood.
“I see aging as a beautiful thing that happens to you, because if you don’t age, you’re going to die,” she said. “I plan to age as long as God lets me, and I’m going to have a good time of it.”
The Fantastic Four follows Marilyn (Bette Midler), a TikTok influencer who invites her college friends to her second wedding. Singer Alice (Megan Mullally) and cannabis farmer (Ralph) lure muddy doctor Lou (Susan Sarandon) to travel to Key West, Florida, for the ceremony, since Marilyn and Lou had a decades-old feud over a man who ended their friendship. Jokes about weed, sex, and TikTok virality follow one another as the friends discover that life’s too short to hold grudges.
Ralph won her first Emmy in 2022 for her role as the wise kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary Schooland hours before speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, she received her third nomination for the role. She said she is grateful to work so much and play characters that elicit so many laughs.
“I don’t so much have fun, but I live in my joy,” she said. “They say if you live in your passion and in your joy, you never have to work a day.”
The 2018 movie Book Club seemingly started the trend of films about older women rediscovering their zest for life. It follows four friends, played by Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, whose lives are turned upside down when they 50 shades of grey. In 2023, 80 for Brady Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Lily Tomlin traveled to see Tom Brady play in the Super Bowl.
Sometimes the number of friends in the movie genre varies slightly. Poms, The 2019 film starring Keaton, Jacki Weaver and Rhea Pearlman unites a team of six seniors who form a cheerleading squad in their senior living community. Summer camp, The film was released in May 2024 and follows childhood best friends Kathy Bates, Keaton and Alfre Woodard who attend a summer camp reunion.
Ralph said four is the ideal number of friends to show on screen because it reflects the different dynamics of relationships.
“The hard thing about four is you might have a group of two and two, but if you don’t have anyone on your side, it could be three against one,” she said. “But when you do it … it’s magic.”
She added: “The women I worked with on this film… it was just magic. You see that magic on screen.”
The Fantastic Four is in theaters from July 26.
