2008 Woodie Awards
What to do with Keaton? Bust her
Film Review - Because I Said So
Soheil Rezayazdi - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/5/07 Section: Arts
*1/2 out of *****
What adjective best describes Diane Keaton's turn in Because I Said So? "Abominable?" "Abysmal?" "Vile?"
Maybe it's time to gain some perspective. While you may cringe your way through its 102 minutes, Because I Said So isn't an atrocity. Keaton should not be tried for war crimes, despite the urge. The film ranges from shameless, tepid, and all-out insufferable, but its clumsiness will fascinate you for days.
Just how do you make a film in which we welcome Mandy Moore's screen presence over Diane Keaton's? Feel free to rack your brain over that one.
The film's contrived premise presents Daphne (Keaton), a domineering mother, as she attempts to fix up her daughter, Milly (Moore), with a nice young man. Daphne takes out an online personal ad unbeknown to Milly, screening dozens of applicants before selecting a smarmy architect (Tom Everett Scott) to date her daughter. Inexplicably, a smooth-talking guitarist (Gabriel Macht) also shows interest in Milly after overhearing Keaton interview other candidates at a restaurant. Seconds after meeting Daphne, Macht bemoans his "being reduced to a cultural cliché," a near verbatim steal from Annie Hall.
A romantic triangle, false-premise comedy, and painful slapstick farce ensue.
Of course, the two men signify opposing paths for young love. They may as well be wearing T-shirts - Rich Stability, Laid-back Heartthrob - distinguishing their cookie-cutter personalities. As Milly juggles the two, Daphne works in cahoots with Rich Stability to ensure his victory over Laid-back Heartthrob.
As you could tell by the stock characters, Because I Said So doesn't stray from the romantic-comedy template for a second. This is the type of film that establishes a character's loneliness by having her check her answering machine, only to hear a robotic voice retort, "You have no messages"; the type of film in which, late in the game, we're treated to a moping montage set to an innocuous John Mayer-y ballad; the type of film with a gross-guy montage as a woman tries to find a new boyfriend.
Those scenarios should sound familiar to anyone who's seen a romantic comedy in the last 10 years. Yet, despite a total lack of invention, the above scenes are some of the film's more watchable moments. They're dull, sure, but at least they don't assault/offend the viewer.
Nay, director Michael Lehmann saves such moments for Keaton. The 61-year-old actress caricatures her own on-screen persona, shrieking and stuttering, proving that you can't coast on charm forever. One can imagine Lehmann coaching Keaton to "just, you know, do your Diane Keaton thing." Keaton can't be blamed, however, for the B-side material she's given from scribes Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson. Keaton's running bits - "Why can't I get my GPS to work?" "Why do I always stumble into porn sites on the Internet?" "Why am I always falling on cakes?" - should have never made it past a first draft.
Perhaps only through comparison, Moore's performance shows promise for future roles as an inoffensive, Anne Hathaway-like romantic lead. As we learned from such films as A Walk to Remember and American Dreamz, however, if Moore acts, she's bound to find her way behind a microphone. As Moore mends her music and acting trades into one self-serving fusion, we can't help but wince when the former bleeds into the latter.
A sample platter of romantic comedies new and old, Because I Said So manages to make an inane pop star more appealing than a cinematic legend. An impressive feat, yes, but then again (adjective alert) so were the Dresden bombings.
E-mail DI film critic Soheil Rezayazdi at:
soheil-rezayazdi@uiowa.edu
What adjective best describes Diane Keaton's turn in Because I Said So? "Abominable?" "Abysmal?" "Vile?"
Maybe it's time to gain some perspective. While you may cringe your way through its 102 minutes, Because I Said So isn't an atrocity. Keaton should not be tried for war crimes, despite the urge. The film ranges from shameless, tepid, and all-out insufferable, but its clumsiness will fascinate you for days.
Just how do you make a film in which we welcome Mandy Moore's screen presence over Diane Keaton's? Feel free to rack your brain over that one.
The film's contrived premise presents Daphne (Keaton), a domineering mother, as she attempts to fix up her daughter, Milly (Moore), with a nice young man. Daphne takes out an online personal ad unbeknown to Milly, screening dozens of applicants before selecting a smarmy architect (Tom Everett Scott) to date her daughter. Inexplicably, a smooth-talking guitarist (Gabriel Macht) also shows interest in Milly after overhearing Keaton interview other candidates at a restaurant. Seconds after meeting Daphne, Macht bemoans his "being reduced to a cultural cliché," a near verbatim steal from Annie Hall.
A romantic triangle, false-premise comedy, and painful slapstick farce ensue.
Of course, the two men signify opposing paths for young love. They may as well be wearing T-shirts - Rich Stability, Laid-back Heartthrob - distinguishing their cookie-cutter personalities. As Milly juggles the two, Daphne works in cahoots with Rich Stability to ensure his victory over Laid-back Heartthrob.
As you could tell by the stock characters, Because I Said So doesn't stray from the romantic-comedy template for a second. This is the type of film that establishes a character's loneliness by having her check her answering machine, only to hear a robotic voice retort, "You have no messages"; the type of film in which, late in the game, we're treated to a moping montage set to an innocuous John Mayer-y ballad; the type of film with a gross-guy montage as a woman tries to find a new boyfriend.
Those scenarios should sound familiar to anyone who's seen a romantic comedy in the last 10 years. Yet, despite a total lack of invention, the above scenes are some of the film's more watchable moments. They're dull, sure, but at least they don't assault/offend the viewer.
Nay, director Michael Lehmann saves such moments for Keaton. The 61-year-old actress caricatures her own on-screen persona, shrieking and stuttering, proving that you can't coast on charm forever. One can imagine Lehmann coaching Keaton to "just, you know, do your Diane Keaton thing." Keaton can't be blamed, however, for the B-side material she's given from scribes Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson. Keaton's running bits - "Why can't I get my GPS to work?" "Why do I always stumble into porn sites on the Internet?" "Why am I always falling on cakes?" - should have never made it past a first draft.
Perhaps only through comparison, Moore's performance shows promise for future roles as an inoffensive, Anne Hathaway-like romantic lead. As we learned from such films as A Walk to Remember and American Dreamz, however, if Moore acts, she's bound to find her way behind a microphone. As Moore mends her music and acting trades into one self-serving fusion, we can't help but wince when the former bleeds into the latter.
A sample platter of romantic comedies new and old, Because I Said So manages to make an inane pop star more appealing than a cinematic legend. An impressive feat, yes, but then again (adjective alert) so were the Dresden bombings.
E-mail DI film critic Soheil Rezayazdi at:
soheil-rezayazdi@uiowa.edu
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