Because I Said So 2007

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: 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 more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Spark? Romance? Wit? Nope, sorry. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The whole movie feels pushy. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Everything about Because I Said So screams out generic chick flick -- and we do mean scream, literally -- from the forgettable title to the excruciatingly corny ending. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: 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 more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: As almost everyone knows by now, the early part of the year has become a dumping ground for dreadful movies. Still, Because I Said So constitutes unusually toxic waste. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Keaton may well be the only actress in Hollywood who could play this character without making her despicable or treacly. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Any relationship between the world of Because I Said So and actual human behavior is purely coincidental. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Because I Said So is a movie about people we don't like doing things no one would ever do. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Because I Said So exasperates because even its best intentions are phony. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A depressing example of what passes for a 'woman's picture' in a not exactly woman-friendly media era. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: My motherly advice is: Skip it. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Recycling every cliche in the rom-com handbook, it's clear from the very first that Lehmann has sacrificed his characters on the altar of sappy endings. What a waste -- for everybody. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Wince-inducing. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: I am about to issue a declaration that amounts to blasphemy among many film critics, fashionistas and women of a certain age: I am so over Diane Keaton. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: There are lots of cakes involved in the film, and each time one shows up you know it's likely to be thrown, fallen on, dropped or pressed into someone's face. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: An unbelievable mess. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: What makes this seem sad instead of simply silly is the way Keaton throws herself into this slop. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Because I Said So is a work of comic desperation, and an especially cruel betrayal of Keaton, who looks radiant in her 60s yet keeps finding herself cast in roles that use her age as the foundation for cut-rate slapstick. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Speaking as a longtime Keaton fan, it's hard watching her go through this overbearing mother phase. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The jokes are crude and repetitious. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: As a member of their generation, and one who considered them among the best actresses of Hollywood's most probing era, I am both cheered and alarmed by the recent spectacles Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton have made of themselves. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Call it a hunch, but I don't think you're going to see a clip from the appalling romantic comedy Because I Said So at this spring's Diane Keaton tribute at Lincoln Center. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: There's a charming bonhomie among the sisters, and there are cute touches to the romances. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The screenplay for Because I Said So may be short on invention but it is large on heart. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: 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 more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, when they reached a certain age, played harridans and ax murderers. Diane Keaton has started playing mothers, but, alas, the effect is about the same: She's scary. Very scary. Read more

Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times: Keaton is almost unwatchable in embarrassing scenes that involve an over-the-top car chase and a computer with a mind of its own. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: The result is 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 more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Diane Keaton has a lot to answer for in her willingness to portray Hollywood's idea of middle-aged womanhood. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: If you don't expect too much of it, you may find yourself pleasantly -- all right, soothingly -- surprised by it. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Time Out: Everyone here is a caricature, and the gaps are papered over with hyperactive shtick. I haven't seen so many cakes dropped or smashed since I Love Lucy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: 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 more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: An exercise in canned cuteness. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What the filmmakers try to play for laughs isn't funny, it's creepy. Read more