Poms

There’s little to cheer about in Poms, the latest comedy about sassy seniors reminding us that age is nothing but a number.

However, such worthwhile sentiment is buried beneath silly contrivances and aimless diversions, stranding some talented veteran performers who deserve better than this one-joke empowerment premise aimed squarely at the AARP crowd.

The story follows Martha (Diane Keaton), the newest resident of a retirement community who’s turned off by forced socializing and instead wallows in her cancer diagnosis, for which she’s refused conventional treatment options.

A sex-crazed neighbor (Jacki Weaver) rescues Martha from the doldrums and encourages her to relive a part of her childhood by forming a cheer squad with some of the other resident outcasts (played by Pam Grier and Rhea Perlman, among others). That idea is met with disapproval by the busybody (Celia Weston) in charge of the community’s upcoming talent show.

Martha aims higher, namely a regional cheerleading competition with a division for “ages 18 and up.” Despite various maladies and a humiliating viral video posted by thoughtless high school students, the team is determined to defy the odds.

For a while, Poms is a moderately amusing diversion, gently poking fun at a broad target by satirizing “active” senior communities and their sometimes arbitrary rules and social structures. Considering its target demographic, the screenplay is mischievous yet polite, generating some scattered laughs but stumbling as a more serious examination of loneliness, aging, and mortality.

Keaton and her sidekicks convey a feisty charm and at least appear to be having fun, to the point you wish that many of the characters were crafted with more meaningful depth.

Instead, the film makes the egregious error of focusing on a rivalry between the senior cheer squad and their teenage adversaries with plenty of social-media weapons at their disposal. That leads to heavy-handed lectures about treating our elders with dignity and respect rather than mockery and neglect.

Eventually, the narrative debut of documentary filmmaker Zara Hayes settles into a predictable formula about a ragtag squad training against the clock for the big competition.

As our heroines refuse to act their age, that’s supposed to be a good thing, perhaps inspiring the intended audience to make the most of their golden years. A good way to start is by skipping Poms.

Rated PG-13, 91 minutes.