Because I Said So
Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 2, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
8
Negative:
21
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames 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. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Amongst the cardboard-cutout supporting characters, Lauren Graham brings a welcome deadpan sensibility to the overeager proceedings. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Any relationship between the world of Because I Said So and actual human behavior is purely coincidental. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Keaton is so over-the-top, so loud and so physically animated that when Daphne develops a case of laryngitis mid-way through the movie, it's as if a neighbor's car alarm has finally been shut down. However, in those silent moments, when Daphne is communicating with notes, you realize how much you like this actress. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A mild exercise in deliberate mediocrity, with chuckles and heartwarming moments distributed as carefully as nuts in a factory-made brownie. The movie's lack of ambition is hardly surprising, but both Ms. Moore and Ms. Keaton, who can wring flustered comedy out of the mildest provocation, deserve better. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Because I Said So might have been sharper if it had focused on the mother/daughter relationship and didn't blunt its story with romantic comedy. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
The problem with Because I Said So isn't that it's formulaic and predictable; fans of romantic comedy can get around those qualities, and even appreciate them. It's that the film keeps missing out on its own opportunities for comic gold. Read full review
40
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Like nearly all of Lehmann's post- "Heathers" work, it's lazy and disinterested--a hack-for-hire job any number of film-school grads could have put through its uninspired paces. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis Harvey
An exercise in canned cuteness, Because I Said So pushes its normally appealing stars, Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore, over the edge of sitcom hysteria. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Formulaic romantic junk. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Overall, Graham and Perabo have so little to do that it's hard to imagine why Maggie has three daughters instead of one; they just clutter up her screen time. As to Perabo, she seems to exist for the sole purpose of making risque remarks, and the family dog has more memorable moments. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
30
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
With a lazy, cliché, rabid plot and paper-thin character development, Because I Said So might as well have been directed by a trained chimpanzee. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
What the filmmakers try to play for laughs -- a mom and her daughters chatting about orgasms while shoe shopping -- isn't funny, it's creepy. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Throughout most of her career Diane Keaton has shown sound instincts, so it's a mystery why she failed to sniff this false, brittle comedy out as a waste of her gifts. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
I hope Keaton doesn't begin to make a specialty of these roles. They play into what is least attractive in her repertoire – the loosey-goosey, knockabout side of her that all too swiftly devolves into hysterics. Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's hard to imagine how the movie year could possibly produce a more annoyingly stupid movie. It's so witless, broadly played and insulting to anyone's intelligence that it's almost as offensive, in its own way, as "Jackass: The Movie." Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia 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. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Thirty years after "Annie Hall," the beloved actress is scraping below the bottom of the barrel with this desperately unfunny farce, in which she mugs and pratfalls in the worst performance of her entire career. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's a dreadful exercise, tin-eared and sincere, bereft of any truth or inspiration. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Watching this movie, with Diane Keaton cast as the ne plus ultra of irritating, overbearing mothers, is roughly the equivalent of listening to fingernails on a chalkboard for nearly two hours. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A sloppily made bowl of reheated chick-flick cliches. Read full review
25
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
As close to perfectly unwatchable as it can be. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The search for true love is the backbone of romantic comedy as well as the lifeblood of match.com, but this film's clumsy, completely inauthentic portrayal of it is handled in a shockingly tedious fashion. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
A 105-minute cringe-a-thon that reduces the Katharine Hepburn of her generation to a sitcom harpy presiding over a brood of Valley Girl chicks. Read full review
25
PremiereSara Brady
The film drags by, charmlessly, endlessly. Shrieking. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Not so much phoned in as it is auto-dialed with a text-to-speech prerecorded message in one of those creepy robotic voices. Read full review
20
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's tempting to write off Because I Said So as just another dumb, bad comedy, made yesterday and forgotten tomorrow. But no matter how negligible this particular picture is, it's time to look a little deeper. If these are the only kinds of roles we can conceive for actresses who have grown into their faces, as Keaton has, it's no wonder so many younger performers are seeking the knife. Read full review
20
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
By far the most appallingly cretinous picture in which Keaton has ever appeared. Read full review
0
Wall Street JournalJoe 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.
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