Director:
Michael Lehmann
Starring:
Diane Keaton ………. Daphne
Mandy Moore ………. Milly
Gabriel Macht ………. Johnny
Tom Everett Scott ………. Jason
Lauren Graham ………. Maggie
Piper Perabo ………. Mae
Steven Collins ………. Joe
Ty Panitz ………. Lionel
The Movie
There are four words that every child has grown tired of hearing from their parents. These four words are used as the cheap way out of explaining things to their kids. Anytime a parent didn’t want to explain something to their children when confronted with a question – or back-talk – they would reply back with “because I said so.” That’s the only reason you need for all of life’s great mysteries. So the question now is should you watch this movie for yourself to see if you like it or not, or should you just read on and decide to watch this movie or not based on what I say?
Mandy Moore plays Milly. She is the youngest daughter of Daphne (Diane Keaton). Milly’s two older sisters have both settled down, gotten married, and started thinking about a family. Milly’s current boyfriend breaks up with her right after one of her sister’s wedding. Daphne, thinking she knows what’s best for her children, decides to set Milly up with a date that she hopes to find from an Internet dating service. Of course, Milly ends up meeting “Mr. Right” herself. Now she has to decide between two men after also meeting and liking her mom’s dating site choice.
The success of a romantic comedy hinges on the stars playing the main characters. Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore have both shown in the past that they can carry a movie on their backs and make it at least watchable. As a mother and daughter combination in this movie, Moore and Keaton pull off another good acting job. The rest of the cast doesn’t get as much screen time as the two main stars, but no one really drags the movie down with their acting. From top to bottom, the acting at least makes this movie a watchable one.
Unfortunately, the plot of the movie can’t keep pace with the acting. The story is pretty standard: This is a typical romantic comedy, which means “movie made for women” a.k.a. a “chick flick”. Guys shouldn’t shake their heads and run hiding underneath the couch, if their wives or girlfriends make them watch this movie. There is at least the beautiful Mandy Moore to watch on the screen. As usual, though, the “comedy” in this movie is not that funny. It feels like they tried too hard to be funny at times.
The romance is definitely there in this movie, but comedy is severely lacking. Still the interaction and acting between Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore, along with the rest of the cast, make this film an average “chick flick” when it could have been much worse. It’s at least watchable as a result for even non-fans of this genre of film. That’s saying a lot as this movie could have been painful to watch without Keaton and Moore in their respective roles. Also, this is a movie about women wrote by women. This could have been a lot worse, but there is nothing painful or bad about watching Mandy Moore. Why? Because I said so, of course.
The Video:
The video is is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The video is pretty standard for new releases these days. It’s better-than-average, but anything less would be a disappointment these days.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English SDH and Spanish as well. No problems real problems here either. The music and dialogue comes out loud and clear.
The Extras:
“The Making Of” Featurette –
This is your standard behind-the-scenes featurette. The cast and crew talk about how the movie came about, what it was like to film it, etc. Nothing groundbreaking or special is said here. Just what you expect.
“Designing a Wilder World” Featurette –
This featurette is more about the creative side of the movie. We talk to cast and crew about the fashion, set designs, and props in the movie. Again another pretty standard featurette.
“World Spins Madly On” by The Weepies –
This is a song from the movie and this is the video for it with clips from the movie. It’s not a bad song at all actually. But they are clearly running out of ideas if they have to put a music video in the “bonus features” section.
iVillage Pregnancy Ad –
Now they are officially out of ideas. This is just a commercial for this website called iVillage. It’s a site mainly for women. But this ad runs literally 15 seconds. Not needed at all for a “bonus feature”.
Because I Said So is an average click flick. Fans of Diane Keaton or Mandy Moore will probably enjoy this – it’s at least watchable for others. Rent it if you must, but I wouldn’t recommend buying it sight unseen.
