听 Not long after earning her fourth Oscar nod for Something's Gotta Give, veteran actress Diane Keaton starred as an overbearing mother in Because I Said So. Part-time popstrel Mandy Moore played her daughter in a string of "teeth-gritting scenarios" that were supposed to make us laugh. No doubt Moore's tween fanbase helped it along at the US box office, but it sold few tickets in Britain.
Mum's The Word
Ironically, given its tendency to make your teeth grind, the film was conceived in a dentist's office. In a seven-minute Making Of featurette, screenwriter Jessie Nelson explains that she was flicking through a magazine when she came upon an article about an interfering mother who arranged dates for her single daughter via the internet. "What a great idea for a movie!" she thought. Apparently the dentist drilled too far into her gums...
Strangely, it didn't take much to convince Diane Keaton to jump on board because, as the actress explains, she relished the chance to do some physical comedy. Meanwhile, director Michael Lehmann was happy to let Keaton get slapped in the face with cake for hours on end (as revealed in behind-the-scenes footage), and says of working with feisty women, "I get a kick out of it..."
Back In The Kitchen
According to a featurette on design, the slapstick elements of the story led costumer Shay Cunliffe to take a leaf out of Lucille Ball's book. That's why you'll see Keaton falling over in huge 50s-style skirts, strangled by sassy neckerchiefs and looking dotty in polka dots. Since she plays a top wedding cake designer, the props department also had to call in the frosting specialists. All those elaborately decorated sponges are enough to bring a tear to Jane Asher's eye, but the rest of us will be shedding tears of boredom. And that pretty much says it for this DVD. Skip it, because we said so...
EXTRA FEATURES
Because I Said So DVD is released on Monday 4th June 2007.
