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Because I Said So Review

Release Date: Feb 02, 2007
Rated: for sexual content including dialogue, some mature thematic material and partial nudity
Runtime: 1 hr. 42 min.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director:Michael Lehmann
Cast:Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham. Full cast + crew

Movies.com Critics

2.5

Dave White Profile <h3>Dave White</h3> <p><strong>Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex</strong></p> <br /> <p>Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...<a href="http://www.movies.com/movie-reviews/dave-white">Read full profile</a></p>

It's dumbly inoffensive, unless you're offended by things that induce napping. Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

2.0

26

out of 100

Metascore^®
Generally unfavorable reviews
based on a weighted average of all
critic review scores.
0

out of 100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
This film bespeaks a truly startling mistrust of the movie audience, and, what's more, a disrespect for the feature film medium. Yes, of course it was conceived as an unpretentious entertainment pitched mainly to girls and young women. Yet that doesn't explain the nightmarish quality of the finished product.
25

out of 100

USA Today Claudia Puig
It's so derivative, unfunny and thuddingly bad that it's one of the more cringe-inducing movies of a genre chock-full of clunkers.

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33

out of 100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This slapdash, charmless, baldly boomer-chasing romantic comedy, directed by Michael Lehmann (Heathers) from a clunky, orgasm-obsessed script by Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson, is the lazy studio's answer to a call for more age-appropriate entertainment for "More" magazine readers.

Read Full Review
38

out of 100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Formulaic romantic junk.

Read Full Review
60

out of 100

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
Amongst the cardboard-cutout supporting characters, Lauren Graham brings a welcome deadpan sensibility to the overeager proceedings.

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75

out of 100

ReelViews James Berardinelli
Despite being rooted firmly in "chick flick" territory (with a high "cuteness" index), it has the capacity to please to viewers of both genders who appreciate the genre.

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See all Because I Said So reviews at Metacritic.com

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For Families provided by Common Sense Media

Iffy for 13+

Keaton and Moore can't save bland, cliched romcom.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that kids under 14 (even big Mandy Moore fans) probably won't be interested in this flat, unoriginal romantic comedy. The film's humor is based on a very tired stereotype: the aggressively interfering mother. Her interest in her youngest daughter's love life leads to silly jokes, sexual imagery (women appear in their underwear, some kissing, a brief montage shows one woman with two different partners), and innuendo (including discussion about -- and re-enactment of -- orgasms). Very mild language for PG-13 ("ass," "damn it") and some tame social drinking.

Families can talk about romantic comedies. How is this movie like other romantic comedies you've seen? Why do movies in this genre tend to follow the same pattern? Can you think of any examples of obvious "romantic comedy" elements (i.e. making Milly's boyfriends so different that her choice seems obvious to viewers)? Families can also talk about overbearing parents. How can suggestions that are intended to be helpful end up hurting the person they're directed at? Besides criticizing them, how else could Daphne encourage her daughters?

The good stuff

Messages: A mother berates her adult daughter and interferes in her dating life; sisters withhold information; Milly cheats on both boyfriends; boyfriends are alternately scheming, angry, and possessive.

What to watch for

Violence: Pratfalls (two involving cakes); suggestion that a suicidal patient jumps out a window (cake falls on the patient's head).
Sex: Mother and daughters appear in underwear in locker room (their bottoms appear in close-up and they discuss thongs), subtitled references to Daphne's need for a "stiff one" and "poofter" Daphne watches porn Web site (sounds are explicit; imagery is not); dog humps stool; reference to "woody" discussion of orgasm (with daughter acting out what it's like for her mother); some cleavage; Daphne worries that an unbuttoned dress shows that her daughter is "asking for it" non-explicit montage of sex scenes (Milly with two men); little boy says "gina" (for vagina) and "penis" kissing/making out between Daphne and Joe, who later appear in bed together.
Language: Mild language: "ass," "damn it," plus semi-joke about "Italian for 'late'" ("retardo") and several sexual innuendoes.
Consumerism: Reference to Mentos.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some drinking on social occasions (wine, champagne, brandy).

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