Maybe I Do

This was a movie of such contrived drivel that having to watch 'mature' characters who hadn't learned anything about how to be in this world along the way of their collective 260+ years on this planet made me squirm uncomfortably in my seat that the only saving grace was that the movie came in at 92 minutes in length.

So fed up was I, that without wanting to, a fairly loud sigh of exasperation left my upper respiratory tract and caused the biggest laugh of the night in the theater I attended of this star studded dud of an attempt at movie making. You shouldn't be surprised if something similar happens at your theater also. Hard Pass!!

The one thing i wanted to comment on about this movie is its dull visual style. There is almost no visual language at all. Every shot lacks almost any dynamism/movement. The color palette is fairly bland. The lighting is purely utilitarian. The weather is not used in any visually suggestive or symbolic way. There is a lot of grey, dark tones, shadows. In short, its dull visual quality only highlights the more talky and pedantic aspects of the script. It was originally a stage play and it's almost as if director Michael Jacobs-whose background is in TV-doesn't realize that a stage is at least well-lit. This is his directorial debut so I'll cut him some slack (as though he cares what I think lol), and I will admit I laughed a number of times. Macy gets all the good lines. Gere is stuffy and somnambulistic. Keaton is very good. Sarandon is okay too. I think Luke Bracey was the worst piece of acting in the film, and I imagine it's because he wasn't given enough takes, or that he didn't fully understand his character, which I would cut him some slack for because I didn't fully understand him for most of the film either. So, you can watch this movie, but I recommend stopping in the middle to get to bed and then forgetting to watch the rest.

The story isn't bad but the conversations are unbelievably bad. None of them flow and most of time not even believable. I can't imagine anyone one in any of the situations would behave the way every single characters does in every scene. It's like they are all awkward individuals that can't communicate or act appropriately. Maybe one person might be weird and a bad conversationalist, but everyone in the movie? It makes the whole movie hard to get into and believe. I don't think it's bad acting, although it comes off that way, because it's a good cast. I think it is the writing that ruined the whole movie. It seems lazy and not thought out at all. There isn't a single articulate conversation in the whole movie. Such a bummer because the cast is great.

I grew up with boy meets world and am lucky to call Michael jacobs an acquaintance so I had to support this film, but it was very odd. Like someone else said, it was almost like it was meant to be a play. The plot is basic enough. A couple try to decide if they're meant to be together forever and marry so they bring in their parents. Problem is the parents have been cheating on each other. With each other. It was hilarious at first, especially when everyone all arrived at dinner together, but it slowly unravels. Emma roberts character and her boyfriend basically just disappear from the film at one point. The movie just becomes everyone having inner dialogues, with each other. The movie goes in so many circles and Michael can't seem to decide what he wants to say ultimately. Sadly I can't recommend it. Such a waste of a talented cast too.

It starts out with several minutes of credits - and I'm not talking about names on top of scenic landscapes in the background, literally just white text on a black screen. But, at least the original song "Always You" was playing, which I liked. It was very obvious that the story was originally a play and was not adapted much for a screenplay of a movie. There was a lot of dialogue...I mean A LOT. And sometimes it seemed like they were talking in circles or in a translated language because I didn't even understand what they were talking about. It also felt like it didn't have enough characters and lacked a variety of scenery and settings. With such a great cast list and well-known writer/director (for TV anyways), I had higher hopes but there was much room for improvement in terms of making it into a romcom movie.