Mack & Rita

Why on earth was this movie even made? Stupid jokes, lame story that's been done a hundred times before, and even lamer cast.

The Diane Keaton character's voice was so annoyingly high pitched that it was hard to even hear what was being said. Waste of time.

Save yourself. Stay home. Watch the grass grow. Go see a different movie. Try a new restaurant. But DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE. I warned you...go see where the crawdads sing.

I don't normally write one star reviews and I'm a huge fan of Diane Keaton, so it hurts me to say this but this movie was a complete disaster! First of all, the story moved so slow that I was practically left with no other choice but to turn it off halfway through the movie. Second, the movie just felt so lost and with no direction. The jokes felt very forced and it didn't seem as if what was happening was going anywhere. I waited until Diane was on screen, hoping it would help pick up the pace a bit, but even her amazing energy could not save this. It could've been so much funnier but instead, every joke just fell flat. In the end, I decided it was not worth any more of my time so I stopped it.

Fifteen minutes in: "Oh. So it's 'Big' or '13 going on 30' meets 'Freak Friday.' Got it."

The cast is having a good time. I love the costume design, and the hair and makeup work. The production design and art direction are pretty swell. There are themes here about being true to oneself, and the shallowness of social media and "influencers"; far less well articulated are any Big Ideas about treating the elderly well, and not talking down to them, or some such that the movie barely touches upon. The screenplay can claim some minor cleverness and mild, lighthearted humor. It's well made from a technical standpoint, including visual effects, editing, and cinematography, even if such elements are sometimes employed to ends that are just overdone.

I'd like to have more to say about 'Mack & Rita,' and specifically, something more substantive. This, however, is not a movie of substance - at least, none that we haven't seen before, and none that we can't predict nearly from the very start. There are also times when the feature works extra hard to avoid substance and just be as bombastic as it can, except the results of such instances are mostly not fun or funny, just overcooked or altogether obnoxious. (Like, really obnoxious; the first point of comparison to come to mind was John Leguizamo's 1997 misstep 'The pest,' except without the deliberate offensiveness.) Alternatively, the last scene, that tries to wrap up the story in a nutshell of whatever substance was previously lacking, is simply too drawn out.

This isn't to say that it's bad, or dull. It's not! It's really not! I do like this; it's passably entertaining, and everyone put in a lot of hard work on it. Only - it's just not anything special, and it doesn't have any especial spark to make it pop. No doubt many other viewers will get much more out of 'Mack & Rita'; I'm glad for them, and they should. For the average viewer, however, this is something very light and fluffy to watch on a very lazy day, if at all. Maybe that's all it needs to be, but I still rather wish it were something more remarkable.

Light hearted escapism; not nearly worthy of some of the overwhelmingly negative reviews here. But don't go thinking you're going to see an Oscar winner either.

Elizabeth Laiil and Dianne Keaton are charming. However, the story is one we all know. But if you're looking for a few hours to forget the world, you'll enjoy it just fine...