Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Michael Lehmann
Cast: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham, Piper Perabo, Steven Collins
RunTime: 1 hr 30 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC-16
Official Website: www.becauseisaidso.com

Opening Day: 29 March 2007

Synopsis :

A meddling mother (Keaton) tries to set her daughter (Moore) up with the right man so her kid won't follow in her footsteps.

Movie Review:

For the record, this chick flick stars some of this reviewer’s favourite chicks. There’s the underrated Mandy Moore, who broke his heart in Adam Shankman’s weepie A Walk To Remember (2002). There’s the underrated beauty Piper Perabo, who still managed to steal his heart despite being a lesbian in Ol Parker’s cutesy Brit comedy Imagine Me And You (2005).

Then there’s Diane Keaton.

If you have caught the Oscar winner’s zippy performances in her previous movies Something’s Gotta Give (2003) and The Family Stone (2005), then this one won’t provide any surprises.

In fact, her role as an overbearing, overprotective and over-the-top mother is one of the reasons why this Michael Lehmann-directed movie did not work out the way it was supposed to.

Keaton plays a single mother who spends lots of “girl time” with her three gorgeous daughters. After marrying off the two older girls, she begins to worry why her youngest one (Moore) is still unmarried. The zealous mother then sets up an online ad for her, and the search for the perfect partner ensues.

The story penned by Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson sounds fun, but unfortunately gets meddled in a web of tiresome stereotypes and caricature jokes somewhere in the movie’s 30-minute mark.

By then, you would have seen almost all of Keaton’s fleeting demeanor as the emotionally uptight mother. You would have lost your amusement at Moore’s unglamorous grunts when she laughs. And worst of all, you would have seen the predictable finale coming.

The problem is: there is still over an hour before the 102-minute movie ends.

Thankfully, the male instinct in this reviewer remained pleased at the eye candy that was the leading ladies. Keaton’s performance may be nothing refreshing, but her effortless take on the role is a breeze to digest. Moore manages to portray the coy and sweet side of a girl looking for love with ease too. Perabo’s sexiness and Lauren Graham’s funny one-liners complete the girl squad’s colourful characters.

Pleasant-looking actors Tom Everett Scott and Gabriel Macht play Moore’s suitors, but are unfortunately forgettable.

Being a romantic comedy, the jokes written for the movie are at most chuckle-worthy for its sexual innuendoes, and not classic rib-ticklers. The warm and fuzzy Hallmark moments are also not very memorable because of the loose and unfocused story plot.

So what’s left at the end of the day for this romantic comedy? As demeaning as this may sound, we’d say: watch this for the chicks, and nothing else.

Movie Rating:

(Couples, don’t say we didn’t tell you so – this romantic comedy won’t be your most memorable date)

Review by John Li