Mandy Moore continues her streak in Because I Said So: she gives yet another good performance in yet another failed movie. As the youngest and most romantically challenged daughter of overbearing, matchmaking mother Daphne (Diane Keaton), Moore has to inhabit both a shrill family drama and a wan romantic comedy. She does so with cheery movie-star aplomb, appearing natural in a parade of awkward scenes: dating two guys at once, talking orgasms with mom, and fighting static cling. The screenplay doesn't actually give her a real character to play, of course, but Moore grins, bears it, and powers through.
Strangely, it's veteran Keaton who's lost without stronger direction. Leaning so heavily on her dithery persona that it appears worn and misshapen by movie's end, the best that can be said about this performance is that she fits a lot of flailing in between all the endless dog-reaction shots. Worse can be said about the movie itself, especially the repugnance of its attempted mother-daughter universality juxtaposed with its casual views of non-whites as inherently goofy. The best moments have Moore and Lauren Graham (underused as the oldest sister) just chattering away; everything else feels like interference.
Opens February 2
Strangely, it's veteran Keaton who's lost without stronger direction. Leaning so heavily on her dithery persona that it appears worn and misshapen by movie's end, the best that can be said about this performance is that she fits a lot of flailing in between all the endless dog-reaction shots. Worse can be said about the movie itself, especially the repugnance of its attempted mother-daughter universality juxtaposed with its casual views of non-whites as inherently goofy. The best moments have Moore and Lauren Graham (underused as the oldest sister) just chattering away; everything else feels like interference.
Opens February 2
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