There's more than enough material here to make an enjoyable drama about a mother and her adult daughters. But the writers and director fail on virtually every front.
Because I Said So (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:154
Fresh:8
Rotten:146
Average Rating:3.2/10
Consensus: Overly reliant on caricatures and lacking any human insight, Because I Said So is an unfunny, cliche-ridden mess.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for sexual content including dialogue, some mature thematic material and partial nudity
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:16-02-2007
Synopsis: Powerhouse actresses Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo serve up the laughs when they join wickedly funny director Michael Lehmann (The Truth About Cats & Dogs, 40 Days and... Powerhouse actresses Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo serve up the laughs when they join wickedly funny director Michael Lehmann (The Truth About Cats & Dogs, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Heathers) in his new film about cutting the apron strings, Because I Said So. Keaton stars as Daphne Wilder, a mother whose love knows no bounds or boundaries. She is the proud mom of three daughters: stable psychologist Maggie (Graham), sexy and irreverent Mae (Perabo) and insecure, adorable Milly (Moore)-who, when it comes to men, is like psychotic flypaper. In order to prevent her youngest from making the same mistakes she did, Daphne decides to set Milly up with the perfect man. Little does Milly know, however, that her mom placed an ad in the online personals to find him. Comic mayhem unfolds as Daphne continues to do the wrong thing for the right reasons...all in the name of love. In a hilarious battle of strong wills, the mother-daughter dynamic is tested in all its fierce, wacky complexity. The girls help Daphne finally discover the truths and impossibilities of motherly love, all while trying to answer the questions: where does it begin and where should it end? --© Universal Pictures [More]
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Piper Perabo, Tom Everett Scott
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Piper Perabo, Tom Everett Scott, Neil Hopkins, Lauren Graham, Stephen Collins, Tony Hale, Gabriel Macht, Ty Panitz
Director: Michael Lehmann
Director: Michael Lehmann
Screenwriter: Jessie Nelson, Karen Leigh Hopkins
Producer: Paul Brooks
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Because I Said So
At 61, Diane Keaton is still doing her ditzy, girlish thing, but the act is getting a little oppressive and rarely more so than in Because I Said So, an indulgent comedy.
As well as providing lifestyle porn, the many scenes set in stylish kitchens mean there is usually a cake on hand for somebody to be splattered with. That’s the level of the bland attempts at comedy.
At one point Daphne warns Milly, "You're going to end up like some pathetic character in a Tennessee Williams play." If ever a film could have used a character from a Tennessee Williams play, it's this one.
There's a special circle of hell reserved for whoever thought up the moment where Macht tells Moore she smells like "cake batter".
If there’s a worse screenplay in 2007 than this offering from Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson, it’ll be written in crayon.
A bit like the 'Friends' episode in which Phoebe has to choose between two men, only with Diane Keaton, and fewer laughs.
A shocking embarrassment for all concerned, this is a badly written, badly acted and poorly directed mess from start to finish.
It scores occasionally, mainly thanks to Keaton’s performance, but heavy-handed dollops of schmaltz mean that it remains in the aforementioned mediocre territory.
If you’re a mother or a daughter some of it may resonate, but how apt that this painful, toothless farce was originally dreamt up at the dentist...
A bog standard all-girls-together comedy with a decent cast and less impressive characters.
Towards the end, the spectacle of Milly faking an orgasm for her mother's edification is, frankly, enough to kill anyone's hopes of romance.
There are chick flicks and upchuck flicks. The movie Because I Said So is an upchuck chick flick.
Because I Said So isn't very funny, and no amount of having Diane Keaton act all post-menopausally zany is going to create the tension that just isn't there.
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