Diane Keaton stars as Daphne Wilder, the mother of three beautiful daughters and owner of a cake shop (or some kind of bakery/catering biz). Two of her daughters are married (Piper Perabo, Lauren Graham) but her youngest, Milly (Mandy Moore), has a pattern of always falling for men who wind up hurting her. Even though Milly's only in her early 20s, this lack of a serious relationship drives Daphne crazy. Because Daphne is perhaps the most obnoxious, meddling mom on the planet, she takes matters into her own hands and looks for Mr Right the wrong way by placing a wanted ad for potential suitors.
Of course, 99% of the guys who show up in response to Daphne's detailed, lengthy request for a mate for her daughter are unattractive, hopeless nerds. But wait for it...you know it's coming...one of the applicants is a dreamboat with a nice bank account and amazing job. Yes, just the type you always hear about responding to want ads placed by desperate mothers - if you live in an alternate universe or in the land of rom-coms. And, of course, he's the one mom wants for her daughter and, you guessed it, there's another guy (also handsome and available) who decides he's the one Milly should really be with.
Gabriel Macht and Tom Everett Scott play the men who compete for Moore's affection and both actors do a decent job of making these guys likeable. Macht and Scott are actually much more enjoyable to watch than the females in the cast. Perabo and Graham weren't given much to work with and the result is they're no more than window dressing. Moore never comes across as comfortable in the role of a young woman with men trouble while Keaton's character is so over-the-top, so nasty at times, that there's no way an audience can connect with her.
The Bottom Line
One of the most frustrating things about Because I Said So is that you’d never hear people in real life talking the way these characters do to each other. The conversations and arguments in this film could only come from a script.
One of my pet peeves about films is when, outside of those in the musical genre where it's entirely appropriate, characters break out in song. When the mother and her brood harmonize for their guests once in Because I Said So, I was willing to let that slip because maybe, just maybe, this family would do that on a rare occasion or when alcohol is involved. When it happened yet again, the movie entered the land of the ridiculous and never returned.
Grade: D
Because I Said So was directed by Michael Lehmann and is rated PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, some mature thematic material and partial nudity.
