My daughter and I were in the mood for a light comedy, so “Because I Said So,” the recently released comedy by Michael Lehmann about a meddling mother and her unmarried daughter, sounded like a good one to rent.
Unfortunately, after only a few minutes into it, we both regretted our choice, yet somehow felt compelled to see it through, hoping it would get better.
It didn't. The preview we had seen in the theater had already given away much of the predictable plot about the neurotic single mom who places a singles ad for her daughter without telling her about it. That's okay—we were still prepared to laugh at Diane Keaton playing the crazy mom and to cheer for Mandy Moore as the daughter trying to find true love in spite of her mother's interference.
So what went wrong? The major flaw is Keaton's character, the overbearing mother named Daphne who likes to wear ridiculous polka dots. Keaton plays her so over-the-top, so shrill, so annoying, so awful that she is just plain hard to watch. It is difficult to believe that her three daughters would ever be in the same room with her for more than five minutes without feeling matricidal.
The movie starts with a wedding and ends with one, scenes that allow you to see the mother and three grown daughters interacting. There is also a scene at a spa where the four women are in their underwear, giving the girls a chance to tease their mom about her “granny” panties as they prepare to enjoy a tortuous massage session together. They also get together for a couple of shopping trips. During these times the daughters openly talk about sex in a way that is probably supposed to be shockingly funny, but somehow just falls flat and seems weird.
These are conversations that sisters might have, but usually not with mom around. And when this 60-year-old mother of three asks her daughter Milly (Moore's character) what it feels like to have an orgasm, well…again, it just seems odd and unbelievable.
Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo, both of whom do a fine job in these supporting roles, play the other two sisters. Moore does what she can with her role, but her character just never rings true. Millie is an attractive single woman with a successful catering business.
Maybe she hasn't found Mr. Right yet, but she definitely does NOT appear as someone who needs to run a singles ad.
The brightest stars of the film are the two young men who get involved with Millie because of the ad. Tom Everett Scott plays Jason, a self-assured architect who is the ad respondent chosen by Daphne as the right guy for her daughter.
They arrange for Millie to cater a function for him so that he can meet her and ask her out. The other is Gabriel Macht, a handsome, fresh face who plays Joe, the guitar player in the coffee shop where Daphne is interviewing her “candidates.” Millie begins dating both guys at the same time, while her mother is frantically working behind the scenes to ensure Jason's success and to sabotage Joe.
Ultimately, the blame for the lame conversations and half-formed characters must be placed on the writers, Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson. They were going for the tone of “Sex and the City”--hip, sassy, and sexy--but they never really achieved it. Having Joe's young son announce to each woman he meets that she has a “gina” just isn't funny.
And watching skinny-as-a-stick, 60-something Keaton discovering the joy of sex with Joe's dad is also not funny.
So, there you go. Unless you are a huge fan of Diane Keaton and/or Mandy Moore, or if everything else that you might want to rent is already sold out, then you probably should pass on “Because I Said So.”
Remember when you were young and an adult told you that you couldn't do something, and when you asked “why” you were told, “because I said so?”
It was an unsatisfying response then, and now it's the title of an unsatisfying film.
BECAUSE I SAID SO
Director: Michael Lehmann
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott Rated PG –13
Running time: 102 minutes
Now on DVD
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