Review: 'Mack & Rita' celebrates living in the now
Posted Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 11:59 AM Central
Last updated Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 12:03 PM Central
by John Couture
The switching bodies genre might be one of the oldest gimmicks in all of film.
Freaky Friday. (Seriously, how many times do we need to remake this film, Disney?)
Big.
While each of these films is mostly similar, the main difference with Mack & Rita is that it doesn't follow the traditional "two people swapping bodies" storyline. No, this one is more like Big where a person is suddenly much older.
In the case of Mack & Rita, the main protagonist goes from 30 to 70 all in the blink of one faulty tanning bed trip. What's up with tanning beds lately? Is there some sort of tanning bed turned time travel mechanism meme that I missed? It's here and a tanning bed was the MacGuffin in Meet Cute where Kaley Cuoco pursues Pete Davidson thanks to the help of a time-shifting tanning bed, but I digress.
When 30-year-old self-proclaimed homebody Mack Martin (Elizabeth Lail) reluctantly joins a Palm Springs bachelorette trip for her best friend Carla (Taylour Paige), her inner 70-year-old is released — literally. The frustrated writer and influencer magically transforms into her future self: ''Aunt Rita'' (Oscar® winner Diane Keaton – 1977, Best Actress, Annie Hall). Freed from the constraints of other people's expectations, Rita comes into her own, becoming an unlikely social media sensation and sparking a tentative romance with Mack's adorable dog-sitter, Jack (Dustin Milligan). A sparkling comedy with a magical twist, Mack & Rita celebrates being true to yourself at any age.
Let's be clear upfront. The only reason this film is anything more than late-night streaming fodder is the performance turned in by the always fabulous Diane Keaton. While the concept is slightly novel, it's not like they are reinventing the wheel that has been retreaded so many times that a monkey with a keyboard could probably hash out a related script in only a few tries.
Diane Keaton is an American treasure and any film that she graces with her presence deserves a watch, even Mack & Rita. While I found many of the contrived "fish-out-of-water" scenes to be obvious and lazy, Keaton is able to elevate them simply by her commitment to the gag.
That's not to say that Mack & Rita is bad, but rather that it could have been improved with a stronger script. Instead of the predictable ending, I would have rather seen Diane Keaton (as the older Mack) provide more gravitas than what she was given. Alas, that wasn't the case and the film sort of flubs the landing on that third act, but by that point, does it matter?
As someone who is married to an "old soul," my wife could probably relate to this movie more than most as she often claims to be an old woman in a younger woman's body. Perhaps the biggest issue that I had with the script is how a supposed older woman trapped in a young woman's body had the initiative and desire to become an influencer.
It works when Diane Keaton is on-screen as the older Rita with the younger Mack seeking the more ambitious influencer lifestyle through her older self than it does the other way around. Most "old souls" that I know would much rather prefer to sit at home and read a good book than to get out and experience all that is required to maintain that status as a top influencer.
In the end, the film is neither good nor bad, but simply exists. It's the type of film that you pull out when your parents are in town visiting and you want to watch something that won't offend anyone. For this reason alone, Mack & Rita serves a wonderful purpose as I will definitely be pulling this one out during the upcoming holidays.
Mack & Rita is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
