Age and Wisdom in Dialogue
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
Mack & Rita (Katie Aselton) rated PG-13 94 min.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): Sometimes my ongoing COVID-concerned avoidance of movie theaters presents more problems than others. After recent successful weeks where I either got to stream something just as it opened (Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.) or finally could watch ones migrated from theatrical releases to streaming (Official Competition, Nope and Thor: Love and Thunder), last weekend I would much preferred to see the new movies of The Woman King (Gina Prince-Bythewood) with Viola Davis in a docudrama about African women warriors of the 19th century and See How They Run (Tom George) with Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan as London cops investigating a murder connected to the stage performance of Agatha Christy’s The Mousetrap (the real play's still running, longest ever in London’s West End theatre district). Instead, I found the streaming pickings quite slim, had personal reasons to instead dip back in time for DVDs of The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961) and Ghost (Jerry Zucker, 1990)—but saw no point in reviewing either one of them, despite their lasting quality—finally ended up with a chancy-choice of Mack & Rita (more about OCCU dismissals farther below), watched anyway due to a long-standing-satisfaction with the career of Diane Keaton, and don’t have all that much to say about this attempt at comedy which does marginally work some of the time (except save the $19.99 rental fee, spend it somewhere else) so let’s just jump into the review (with hope something better emerges next week). By the way, the photo above can easily be misinterpreted because Diane Keaton plays Rita while Elizabeth Lail is Mack (so, Keaton's not somehow both of these women although they do play the same character at different ages). Also, here are links for the schedule of the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, which gives a wide selection of older films with no commercial interruptions and the JustWatch site which also offers a wide selection: options for streaming rental or purchase. If you want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, just go here.
Here’s the trailer for Mack & Rita:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: Mackenzie “Mack” Martin (Elizabeth Lail) is a 30-year-old woman living in L.A. with a successful first novel but not only has creative lightning not yet struck twice for her but she’s also getting attitude from her agent, Stephanie (Patti Harrison), that books are becoming passé even though Mack’s determined to write another one yet has to get by at present trying to be a social media influencer. Through her voiceovers we learn she has great memories of Grammie Martin (Catherine Carlen in flashbacks), feels like she’s an older soul (although I don’t think she uses that precise term) than her ditzy friends but doesn’t share that with them to avoid become alienated. In fact, she’s off to Palm Springs for a bachelorette party for BFF Carla (Taylour Paige), along with 2 others whose names I never got, but don’t find I’ve missed anything in the process (could have been Michelle [Sara Amini] and Molly [Lauren Beveridge]; truly doesn’t matter in the overall impact of this slim movie, nor was I going to pay for it again just to try to find out). Neighbor Jack (Dustin Milligan) takes care of her dog while she’s gone; he’s showing interest in her, trying to chat her up, although she’s not reciprocating. While out in the luxury side of the southern CA desert she wanders away from the intended event, goes into the tent of itinerant psychic Luca (Simon Rex) who offers her a past-life-regression (in an old tanning booth) which somehow results in Mack turning into the 70-year-old-version of herself (now played by Diane Keaton) who’s immediately horrified at her new situation, runs off (as best she can in high-heel, crotch-high boots), finally convinces Carla about who she is now, but upon returning to the psychic’s location they find him gone. Back in L.A., with some vague plan of locating the psychic again, Mack tells Jack she’s Rita, Mack’s aunt from Scottsdale, AZ; they’ve supposedly switched residences for awhile while Mack’s at a writers’ retreat.
As Rita she finds boxes of Grammie Martin’s clothes so she can dress age-appropriately; easily befriends Jack through casual, connective conversations; meets Carla’s mother, Sharon (Loretta Devine), joins up with Sharon’s wine-club-buddies (Angela [Wendie Malick], Betty [Lois Smith], Carol [Amy Hill]—who eagerly meet and drink up on a daily basis); starts posting some stuff as Rita (further encouraged by Stephanie as the Likes pile up), then becomes a social media-sensation. ⇒A problem emerges, though, as Rita must attend an event at the beach to guarantee a $100,000 contribution to Stephanie’s company, but it’s on the same night as Carla’s rehearsal dinner. Rita goes to both, but is so late (due partly to accidently starting a fire at the beach party) Carla’s angry with her; Rita goes home upset, Jack tries to comfort her, Rita pushes him away. Eventually, Rita finds Luca, tells him his tanning bed is actually a real transformational-device despite his overall hustles, gets him to use in on her again to bring Mack back, who attends Carla’s wedding, hugs Jack. One year later, Mack’s with Jack, as her new book (which includes Rita) is a big success.⇐
So What? If you’ve ever seen Big (Penny Marshall, 1988), where 12-year-old shorty Josh Baskin’s (David Moscow) frustrated about his lack of height, popped a coin into Zoltar, an old fortune teller-machine, wished to be “big,” then the next day woke up in the body of a young adult (now played by Tom Hanks) but still with the consciousness of a boy (just as Rita may look older on the outside but she’s still 30-year-old Mack on the inside), then you’ve already got a sense of what goes on in Mack & Rita as the younger woman wants to be different than how she currently understands herself, then learns through her adventures in her alternate-identity to better accept herself as she is. (Josh comes to the same conclusion in Big before he finds the Zoltar machine again, transforms back to his full younger self, although in the process of being “big” we get to enjoy how adults around him translate his childish visions into what they want to understand/embrace about this mysterious arrival into their lives, just as politicians and media bigwigs did the same regarding cognitively-challenged Chance [Peter Sellers] in the brilliant satire, Being There [Hal Ashby, 1979] so that he becomes Chauncey Gardiner, seemingly a subdued font of wisdom to so many of those around him.)
There’s a bit of this Being There-assumption of whatever Rita says is heard as insightful as it comes from the mouth of a 70-year-old rather than much-younger-Mack, just as in her new personality Mack's now able to become a huge media sensation (unlike in her original life), with hints of how a new persona can lead to public acceptance as with irritating-actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) becoming a huge-soap opera-hit when he takes on the disguise of “Dorothy Michaels.” While, as usual, I enjoyed seeing Diane Keaton again (and get to watch her ability with physical comedy, as in the boots scene or Rita’s later attempt at a Pilates session where every exercise attempt goes wrong), I’d advise spending your viewing time with any of the films I’ve mentioned just above because I really don’t think there’s enough substance to Mack & Rita to justify your 20 bucks. However, just as I elevated my stars-rating of Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013) and Honk for Jesus … due to outstanding performances of lead actors Cate Blanchett in the former (won the Best Actress Oscar) and Regina Hall in the latter (should be in 2023 Oscar consideration), so I’ve boosted Mack & Rita up to 2½ stars (a bit of a back-handed compliment) purely on the joy of Diane Keaton’s performance (maybe that becomes enough incentive for the $20 fee, so please decide for yourself).
Bottom Line Final Comments: The OCCU’s been quite decisive already, though, generally telling you to just stay away from this movie with the Rotten Tomatoes critics offering a mere 26% positive reviews while those at Metacritic are surprisingly, noticeably higher for a change (but still firmly in negative territory) with a 49% average score. Just for curiosity, I looked through some other reviews to see what turned off my fellow evaluators so much about Mack & Rita (even my 2½ stars of 5 [a low level I normally try to avoid with such fare based on advance word] is still twice as generous as the RT crowd) and think Mark Kennedy of AP News makes the condemning-case as well as any of them: “The movie ‘Mack & Rita’ — which adds grandma chic to two things no one needs on screen like lazy filmmaking and a tired old concept — can be distilled into one word: cringe. [¶] Virtually no one associated with this film should be congratulated in any way, having ruptured any bridges between Hollywood and senior citizens or for the shocking misuse of Diane Keaton’s considerable skills.” Did anybody like it? Well, The New York Times’ Lisa Kennedy (no relation to Mark as far as I know) found a few things to appreciate so here’s her take: “Lessons will be learned, and there is plenty of slapstick. Although no relation to Buster, this Keaton has grown increasingly game for all manner of pratfall. Bring on the Pilates contraption! Pour the magic mushroom tea! [along with the message …] the best bridge between youth and growing gray — besides self-acceptance — might be lasting friendships.” However, it seems few will agree with her.
This movie got some distribution presence when it opened domestically and in Spain on August 12, 2022, but has taken in little at the box-office since then: $2.5 million domestically, only $11 thousand more than that globally; you’re not likely to find it at a theater any more (no loss, although you still have to pay theater prices for home viewing if you're interested), but if you really want to spend $19.99 for streaming rental you can look to Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and other platforms (as always, check JustWatch), but you can do better, believe me. As for my usual review-wrap-up of a Musical Metaphor, I’m going with Bob Dylan’s “My Back Pages” (on his 1964 Another Side of Bob Dylan album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cF_KCH7TU because while the tune’s quite autobiographical about Dylan feeling he’d been too polemic in his earlier songs so now he’s taking a step back from such overt-protest-material to be a bit more reflective (“In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand / At the mongrel dogs who teach / Fearing not that I’d become my enemy / In the instant that I preach”), Mack/Rita’s story is certainly softer, yet she learns through her mysterious situation that “Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats / Too noble to neglect / Deceived me into thinking / I had something to protect / Good and bad, I define these terms / Quite clear, no doubt, somehow / Ah, but I was so much older then / I’m younger than that now.” Despite initially becoming terrified at becoming Rita, Mack learns much about herself in this alternative-identity, but what we’ll learn from this movie likely won’t be remembered for all that long, except Ms. Keaton's a great actor.
SHORT TAKES
That’s all for my critical commentary this week (which usually reminds me of some parting lyrics from Pink Floyd’s "Time": “The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say,” or maybe R.E.M. knows me even better [from "Losing My Religion"]: “Oh no, I’ve said too much / I haven’t said enough”), but whether you agree with any of that stuff or not I’ll offer you one more opportunity to be in unity with an attitude that would benefit all of us, James Taylor’s "Shower the People" (on his 1976 In the Pocket album), because we should “Shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel / Things are gonna be much better/ If you only will.” We’re now sailing through divisive times; it could be a smoother ride if we’d only help each other a bit more.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Here are some extra items you might like: (1) 17 top films from the 2022 Venice, Toronto, and Telluride festivals; (2) Is Woody Allen retiring from filmmaking or not?; (3) Will box-office success help The Woman King, Elvis, and others in the Oscar races? (4) Long-delayed sequel: original cast returns for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley.
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Here’s more information about Mack & Rita:
https://www.mackandritamovie.com (click the 3 little bars in the upper left for more info)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BhiF8eC7Fc (5:36 interview with actor Diane Keaton)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mack_and_rita
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/mack-rita
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Here’s more information about your “Concise? What’s that?” Two Guys critic, Ken Burke:
If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact, but maybe while there you’ll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker (although, as you know, with bar songs there are plenty about people broken down by various tragic circumstances, with maybe the best of the bunch—calls itself “perfect”—being "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" written by Steve Goodman, sung by David Allen Coe). But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion/lover/
wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the venue) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes/wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can be raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" (19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this well). But, while I’m at it, I’ll also include another of my top favorites, from the night before at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song “just a shot away” in my memory (along with my memory of their great drummer, Charlie Watts, RIP). To finish this cluster of all-time-great-songs I’d like to have played at my wake (as far away from now as possible) here’s one Dylan didn’t play at Desert Trip but it’s great, much beloved by me and Nina: "Visions of Johanna." However, if the day does come when Nina has to recall these above thoughts (beginning with “If we did talk”) and this music after my demise I might as well make this into an arbitrary-Top 10 of songs that mattered to me by adding The Beatles’ "A Day in the Life,"
because that chaotic-orchestral-finale sounds like what the death experience may be like, and the Beach Boys’ "Fun Fun Fun," because these memories may have gotten morbid so I’d like to sign off with something more upbeat to remember me, the Galveston non-surfer-boy.
However, before I go (whether it’s just until next week or more permanently), let’s round these songs out to an even dozen with 2 more dedicated to Nina, the most wonderful woman ever for me. I’ll start with Dylan’s "Lay, Lady, Lay" (maybe a bit personal, but we had a strong connection right from the start) and finish with the most appropriate tune of all, The Beatles again, "In My Life," because whatever I might encounter in my Earth-time, “I love you more.”
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