Ever the optimist, I was prepared to believe Mack & Rita - a new twist on the Freaky Friday concept of stepping into the body of someone from another generation - had real comedy potential. Plus, maybe it would have something to say about ageing, or attitudes to older people. Granted, Diane Keaton's recent movies have been mediocre at best. But she's Diane Keaton and she's adorable. So how bad could it be? Well, pretty bad. It turns out Mack & Rita doesn't have much to say about anything at all. And the Freaky-Friday-style switcheroo concept is really just a lazy way of having Diane Keaton play Diane Keaton for 90 minutes. She gets to dress stylishly, be mildly kooky, and sip glasses of iced wine. It really could have been an extended appearance on Ellen for all the trouble they went to constructing a plot and writing a script. Sadly, with only "adorable" to fall back on, Diane playing young-playing-old - Granny Hall, if you like - rapidly becomes annoying. Then just plain tedious. Then more than somewhat depressing. Nobody should bother over-analysing the threadbare plot, but I was mildly intrigued with the almost-romance that the older Rita has with the younger Mack's young-and-sorta-hunky neighbour, Jack. There's a passionate kiss, which is then never again mentioned. And at the end (spoiler alert) Mack and Jack are an item - with Mack evidently not at all perturbed by Jack's gerontophile tendencies. I guess Keaton deserves some kind of credit for being game for anything. And for soldiering on comedically into her late 70s. But she sure deserves better than this dreck.
Review of Mack & Rita
