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| Movie Review |
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Because I Said So
- In theaters February 2nd 2007
- Rated PG-13 for sexual content including
dialogue, some mature thematic material and partial
nudity
- RunTime: 102 min
- Website
- Matt's rating - 1.5 out of 5
- Cindy's rating - 1 out of 5
- Listen to this weeks 2 minute radio spot!
Cindy hated this even more than I did. Twice I had
to stop her from shoving a drinking straw into her
eye.
Matt's Review below
For a romantic comedy to work it has to have many
of the same elements that a real romance possesses.
There needs to be a rhythm to it. Like a song. There
has to be comfortableness in the relationships of the
people involved. And it has to include dialogue that
isn't rushed or faked. It has to be real and
believable. "Because I Said So" amazingly has none of
these elements. And at times even less. It is a
shame with the cast they had to work with. But like
real romance it takes more than just warm bodies
showing up. It has to have a foundation and
purpose. The writers failed to follow this rule and the
end result is a movie that is a mess of trial and error.
Daphne (Diane Keaton) is a divorced woman days
away from her 60th birthday. She avoids this fact by
delving into the personal relationships of her
youngest daughter Milly (Mandy Moore). Daphne
does everything possible to help her daughter find
Mr. Right but does it all the wrong way. This scenario
has been played out so many times but still can work
with the right balance of writing and chemistry.
Without it everyone sort of just reads their lines and
hopes that it washes out in the end. But it doesn't.
The scenes have no synergy or connection to
anything. Sort of like the writers filled three minute
segments with what they hoped would be cute,
relatable moments. What they got where stiff,
uncomfortable moments of mayhem. From the very
first scene it was out of sync and stayed that away
until the very end.
Blame it on bad directing but Keaton delivers one of
the worst performances of her career. She tries too
hard to be the ditzy, overbearing, I-wanna-be-cute
character and it comes across borderline
embarrassing. There is no sympathy for her. This
feeling carries over into the rest of the cast as well
and by the end you couldn't care less what happens.
You want to see the brilliant Keaton
from "Something’s Gotta Give" but the script was too
sub-par. You just want it over and done. Lauren
Graham and Piper Perabo play Moore's other two
siblings. Both sort of stumble around with looks on
their faces that beg for direction. The leading men
seem to have the same issues. Tom Everett Scott
and Gabriel Macht are both able to deliver strong
performances but are strained to find anything to
work with.
"Because I Said So" is rated PG-13 for sexual content
including dialogue, some mature thematic material
and partial nudity. There is a lot of premarital sex
alluded to without ever really being shown. As a fan
of romantic comedies I truly wanted something good
from this one. I tried hard to find anything about it
that worked. But I simply could not. I give it 1.5 out
of 5 burnt soufflés. Not worth a theater ticket. DVD
rental at best. If everything else is checked out. Ok,
I'm done. With a look at Because I Said So, I'm Matt
Mungle.
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Matt and Cindy are members of the North Texas Film
Critics Association (NTFCA). For additional reviews
and interview clips visit the website.
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Mungleshow Productions
Matt Mungle
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