- Truth be told, I really like Mandy Moore a lot. She’s not the best actress to ever grace the face of the earth and it’s probably unlikely that she’ll every become anything remotely resembling that, but damnit I like her anyway. I probably would have seen License to Wed based on her presence alone (seriously) and now that I know John Krasinski is in it, I have double the reason to see it. [Win win!] Anyway, this is not her best role, mostly because she spends 90% of the movie flailing in opposition to Diane Keaton and it sort of gets tiresome after awhile.
- I wish Diane Keaton would stop taking overbearing mother roles. At least in The Family Stone she was a cancer-ridden bitch so her character at least had a little bite to her, you know? Here she just completely smothers everyone in her path with her Mother Knows Best routine (hence the title of the film) and it’s not endearing, it’s obnoxious. I feel kind of sorry for her, really. I remember when Nicole Kidman won her Oscar for The Hours she said in her speech that she hoped writers would continue writing interesting and strong lead roles for women because it’s hard to find women like that in most Hollywood films. It’s sort of sad that in the past year when there have been some incredible roles for women — just look at the age bracket of more than half the women nominated for Best Actress this year — she gets stuck with dreck like this.
- I like movies in which siblings actually get along and it’s not portrayed as some sort of alternate universe or rare occurrence.
- I love how they trot out the exact same picture of Diane Keaton holding a baby every time they need an old motherly shot of her in a movie. When they showed it in this one, both my mom and Audrey were like “Isn’t that the one they use in Family Stone?” Come on, we live in the age of Photoshop, surely we can come up with a little digitally manipulated variety.
- Is there a word that describes something that is so predictable that it becomes pre-predictable? I need a word like that to describe this movie.
- The attempts to mirror various characters with each other was sort of appallingly obvious. When we’re getting to the point where Mandy Moore has to choose between the hot shot asshole architect and the incredibly sweet and down to earth musician, we get to see two different scenarios one after the other in which she becomes incredibly klutzy and breaks something at each of their homes. Cue asshole freaking absolutely the hell out in the first scenario (OMFG MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER’S CRYSTAL STEMWARE!). It becomes so redudant to then show her breaking a $3 Ikea bowl at the musician’s because you already know he’s not going to have a freak attack about it because he is, of course, The Good Guy. Which is fine, his reaction isn’t the problem, it’s just that the audience really doesn’t need to be hit over the head like that because we pretty much figured out the one-dimensional roles of each male suitor five minutes into the film.
- That said, the musician dude was terribly adorable, which is entirely the point and I dislike that I react the exact way the filmmakers want me to react. I hate it when their manipulation works!
- This movie is a lot more enjoyable than I’m giving it credit for, just do as I did and don’t go expecting anything that resembles a surprise, quirk, or twist.
Because I Said So
Don’t go into it expecting anything that resembles a surprise, quirk, or twist
IMDB Plot Synopsis A meddling mother tries to set her daughter up with the right man so her kid won't follow in her footsteps.