CNS Movie Review: Because I Said So

Because I Said So

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Playing the "endearingly" overbearing mother of three young women, Diane Keaton's trademark charm and self-deprecating exuberance can be observed at full throttle.

But despite her strenuous efforts, "Because I Said So" (Universal/Gold Circle) remains a mediocre and unfunny comedy about Daphne (Keaton), who, desperate to find a match for her unlucky-in-love caterer daughter, Milly (Mandy Moore), tries to match up the girl with Jason (Tom Everett Scott), a handsome if rather shallow architect whom she has pre-interviewed after secretly taking out a personal ad on Milly's behalf.

Musician Johnny (Gabriel Macht) has observed the interview process, and suggests he might woo Milly, but Daphne rejects him as an unreliable musician who would break her daughter's heart.

Still, Johnny pursues Milly on his own, and she quickly responds to his decent and sincere manner (and the fact that he's raising a young son on his own), but Daphne pushes Jason's case so determinedly that Milly finds herself not only dating the two men simultaneously, but engaging in a sexual relationship with both as well!

It soon becomes clear that Daphne's fervor has its roots in not wanting Milly to end up as lonely as she herself is. Fairly late in the film, Daphne meets Joe (Stephen Collins), Johnny's equally nice dad, and Daphne begins to soften.

Director Michael Lehmann's appalling chick flick pushes the contemporary acceptance of premarital sex to new lows, as the permissive Keaton character and her three daughters (Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo are the others) blithely discuss their sexual experiences at every opportunity. It's no doubt a telling irony that we're meant to think Daphne's an old-fashioned gal at heart because she's obsessed with the creaky black-and-white version of "A Farewell to Arms" with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.

On the plus side, the film displays Keaton's comic prowess and appealing performances from Moore, Macht and Collins, while there are minimal expletives, a reasonably moral tie-up and an absence of graphic sex. But all these fail to balance a script (by Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson) that is morally -- and dramatically -- askew at almost every turn.

The film contains several nongraphic sexual encounters, permissive sexual mores, much sexual banter, innuendo and other questionable elements, casual acceptance of porn and an instance of profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

END

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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