Themes: Mothers and Daughters, Sibling Relationships, Matchmakers
Main Cast: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham
Release Year: 2006
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Diane Keaton stars as a unconditionally loving, but meddling, mother whose vain attempt to prevent her insecure youngest daughter from repeating the same mistakes that she made leads to a series of comic misunderstandings in director Michael Lehmann's affectionate family comedy. When it comes to the topic of motherhood, Daphne Wilder (Keaton) has seen it all. Her eldest daughter, Maggie (Lauren Graham), is a highly respected psychologist and her middle daughter, Mae (Piper Perabo), is both sexy and smart, but youngest Milly (Mandy Moore) just can't seem to get things right no matter how hard she tries. Recognizing that the romantic exploits of her charming-but-struggling youngest always seem to end in tears, concerned mother Daphne vows to find Millie the perfect man. Though she always means well, Daphne's misguided attempt to set her daughter up by placing a carefully worded personal ad proves once and for all that even the most well-intending of mothers can sometimes overstep their boundaries. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Piper Perabo - Mae Wilder; Stephen Collins - Joe; Ty Panitz - Lionel; Matt Champagne - Eli; Zachary Gordon - Little Arthur; Colin Ferguson - Derek; Tony Hale - Stuart; Sophina Brown - Matisse, Milly's Staff 1; Karen Leigh Hopkins - Charlie, Milly's Staff 2; Emily Maisano - Milly's Staff 3; Gerald Downey - Cousin Dougy's Friend; Ingrid Sanai Buron - Singing Bride; Satya Lee - Daphne's Masseuse; Alexis Rhee - Maggie's Masseuse; Tuan Shu Lan - Milly's Masseuse; Steven E. Little - Bad Teeth Guy; John Ross Bowie - Cute Food Spewing Guy; Parvesh Cheena - Foreign Guy; Doug Budin - Sneezer; William Belli - Transsexual; Carlo Michael Mancini - Arnold; Mary Pat Gleason - Iris; Judi Barton - Jason's Mother; Rudolph Willrich - Jason's Father; David Purdham - Uncle Philip; P. J. Byrne - Photographer; Edith Jefferson - Female Senior; Holly Westen - Catering Staff; Nate Petre - Bleached Teeth Guy; Allison Caetano - Roller Blader; Chris Monberg - Roller Blader
Credit
Christopher Tandon - Art Director, Karen Leigh Hopkins - Associate Producer, Jonathan Shore - Associate Producer, Eyde Belasco - Casting, David Kitay - Conductor, Wendy Rhoads - Co-producer, Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer, Mike Topoozian - First Assistant Director, Michael Lehmann - Director, Paul Seydor - Editor, Troy T. Takaki - Editor, Norm Waitt - Executive Producer, Scott Niemeyer - Executive Producer, Ralph Meyer - Location Manager, Dana Sano - Musical Direction/Supervision, Mitchell Dubin - Camera Operator, Joe Valentine - Camera Operator, Don Muirhead - Camera Operator, Sharon Seymour - Production Designer, Julio Macat - Cinematographer, Paul Brooks - Producer, Jessie Nelson - Producer, Natalie Richards - Set Designer, Douglas Axtell - Sound/Sound Designer, Ernie F. Orsatti - Stunts Coordinator, Bob Brown - Stunts Coordinator, Michael Flynn - Unit Production Manager, Karen Leigh Hopkins - Screenwriter, Jessie Nelson - Screenwriter, Johnny E. Jensen - Additional Cinematography, Sholto Roeg - Additional Cinematography, Amanda Friedland - Additional Cinematography, Polly Luke - Additional Cinematography, Matt Kutcher - Visual Effects Supervisor, Patrick Flannery - Associate Editor, Robert Krattiger - Gaffer, Joel Derouin - Musical Performer, Grant Geissman - Musical Performer, Aisla Webster - Post Production Coordinator, Christa Vausbinder - Production Supervisor, Maureen Farley - Properties Master, Rebecca Robertson-Szwaja - Script Supervisor, Michael McCue - Second Assistant Director, Don Muirhead - Steadicam Operator, Jerry Ross - Supervising Sound Editor, Curtis Laseter - Construction Coordinator, Katie Saunders - Costumes Supervisor, Michelle Vittone-McNeil - Key Make-up, Mary Sunshine - Production Accountant, Pacific Title & Art Studio - Visual Effects, Westwind Media - Visual Effects, Maggie Martin - Set Decorator, yU+Co - Title Design, Beth Ann Miller - Department Head Hair, Julie Hewett - Department Head Makeup
The movie focuses on Daphne (Diane Keaton), the loving but over-bearing mother of three girls. Her daughters Maggie (Lauren Graham) and Mae (Piper Perabo) are happily married but Milly (Mandy Moore) has recently broken up with her boyfriend, and Daphne is concerned.
Daphne fears that her daughter cannot find a good man on her own so she secretly places a personal ad for her daughter. She finds a potential candidate, Jason (Tom Everett Scott), and tries to orchestrate a chance meeting of the two. The plan seems flawless until Milly finds her own date, guitarist Johnny (Gabriel Macht), who happens to be a candidate Daphne rejected before. Over the course of her scheming and planning to find the perfect match, Daphne stumbles upon her own perfect match after being alone for many years.
The film has a marketing tie-in allowing customers to buy panties with different sayings from the movie.[1]
Reception
Box office
In its first weekend of release, the film placed second in total box office receipts. For the weekend of February 2, 2007, the film earned $13,022,000. As of April 5, 2007, its domestic gross was $42,674,040.[2] According to Box Office Guru, "men showed practically zero interest in the Universal release. Studio research showed that a whopping 82% of the audience was female. 55% of the turnout was 35 or older. 83% was Caucasian."[3] Opening during Super Bowl weekend may have contributed to the lack of male interest.[citation needed]
Critical reception
The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, scoring 5% on RottenTomatoes.com (the "Cream of the Crop" gave it a 8% rating), where it eventually earned the "Moldy Tomato Award" — awarded to the worst-reviewed film of the year.[4][5] William Booth of the Washington Post rated it the worst movie of 2007.[6]
