Displaying items by tag: Katie Aleton

MACK & RITA

US, 2022, 94 minutes, Colour.

Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail, Taylour Paige, Loretta Devine, Dustin Milligan, Lois Smith, Simon Rex. Voice of Martin Short.

Directed by Katie Aselton.

This is very much a “Girls Night Out” movie. It features the central character as a young girl, as a young adult, and her 70-year old self. A night out for all the girl generations. (There are a couple of male characters, one romantic, the other something of a magician – and the voice of Martin Short as the heroine’s dog!).

The central character, Mack, seen as a little girl enjoying life with her grandmother, then thirtysomething, an author, a best friend, pestering agent, the friend next door. The main point of the story is one of those identity changes – this time not someone into someone else’s body but rather the central character ageing, from 30 to 70, and finishing up in the form of an exuberant Diane Keaton, channelling something of what Annie Hall might have been at 70!

Lots of misunderstandings, the 70-year-old pretending to be the 30 year old’s aunt Rita, nice encounters with the man next door, search for the magician who was able to transform Mack into Rita, some occasions with all the girlfriends for a wedding shower, and lots of friendly chats with the exuberant older ladies who include Lois Smith and Loretta Devine.

Reviews were not very kind to this film – and, of all things, a Razzie nomination for worst actress for Diane Keaton.

So, it could be said that potential audiences were warned or advised!