“POMS,” the new Diane Keaton movie, was released today; however, Sun City Peachtree (“Sun Springs”) residents viewed a special screening for us on Wednesday in two of Regal’s theaters, in Griffin.

Our community looked fabulous in the movie, and several of our friends appeared as extras.  In addition, our neighbor around the corner, Karen Beyer, has a speaking role in the movie.  If you see POMS, Karen plays a member of the welcoming committee and drives Diane Keaton around “Sun Springs” in a golf cart tour of the community.  She was great!

We all got a kick out of seeing people we knew as extras in the movie, including some friends.

Bruce (below center) is an extra in a gym scene where he walks by with Victor (pictured below) behind Celia Weston and the welcoming committee.  Unfortunately, all you see is the top of their heads, because the gym eqt. obscured their faces.

They are also in the scene in front of the recreation center where Celia Weston and Bruce McGill drive by in their golf cart; however, all you see is Bunny’s orange shirt.  Oh well, I know he’s there!

As for my hopes of making it in the movie, the entire last day of filming made it squarely on the cutting room floor.  Those scenes were supposed to go into a montage of “A Day in the Life of Sun Springs,” a video that would be used as a sales pitch to get Diane Keaton’s character to buy a house in the community.  I guess they decided to cut that part of the script out.  The movie cuts straight from Diane Keaton in New York to moving into her house in “Sun Springs.”

It was interesting to see what made the movie and what didn’t.  The funeral scene took several hours to film (I watched for a couple of hours); however, only a small portion of the scene made the movie.  I also watched the main pool scene and gym scene being filmed.  Both scenes appear in full.

Although we all had a blast watching the movie, the critics didn’t.  They weren’t too amused…  I just read a bunch of reviews, and the movie was panned by all of them.

Here is an AP movie review that made it into today’s Griffin Daily News.  The paper used my picture again; however, the caption is as poorly written as the movie, according to Lindsey Bahr.

If you go see the movie, our wonderful Sun City Peachtree really shines!  Just know that our community is nothing like it’s portrayed in the movie.  Our Vicky (HOA Manager) is way nicer than Vicky in the movie (Celia Weston), and we don’t have those crazy rules!  We have no security guards like Bruce McGill’s character, and their security office is really our tennis club!  The houses, however, were real houses that were repainted (interiors) and refurnished for the movie.  That indoor pool you see through the gym?  That’s my home away from home where I train!  The gym is Bruce’s second home.