“Time is merely a construct.” Luka (Simon Rex)
Mack & Rita is the silliest comedy of the summer with just enough generational conflict and aging thoughts to save it from oblivion. Try to imagine what it would be like in the hands of the Hal Ashby/ Collin Higgins team of Harold and Maude or the more serious works of Rod Serling because the fantasy of a 30-year-old morphing into a 70-year-old “glamma” has possibilities.
In the hands of director Katie Aselton and writers Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh, it is a vehicle for 76-year-old Diane Keaton (also a producer) as millennial Mack (initially Elizabeth Lail) to indulge Keaton’s ageless ingenue. The dialogue mostly trumpets the recurring theme of being who you are at any age; the camera loves to expose the youthful Keaton’s face and her signature outfits, which have been influential from Annie Hall on through her collaboration with Nancy Meyers (but those ugly giant belts!).
The friendships with other millennials and subsequent gen-xers have moments of cute, for instance, when the millennials don’t understand the meaning of “lothario” while, of course they don’t read, endorse sensible shoes, or non-conformity in general. Taylour Paige is especially effective as Mack’s closest friend and an honest one at that. Although Mack’s young friends have promise as actresses, in this comedy it’s tough to upstage the mighty Keaton (definitely not Buster).
Worth mentioning is Simon Rex as huckster Luka: His regression tank changes Mack into Aunt Rita, making possible the transformation into one’s older self. His casual, carney attitude is just the antidote to a film that takes itself too seriously at times even while it’s frivolous.
Although the younger man, Jack (Dustin Milligan), romances the older Rita (at least 40 years between them), young man Harold (Bud Cort), romances Maude (Ruth Gordon) in a much better comedy with Maude’s deeply felt poetic words, nowhere as banal as Mack and Jack’s. The love expressed in Mack & Rita is superficial and never fleshed out, nor does it tend enough to the conceit about overnight aging.
Maybe, then this film really doesn’t aspire to be like Big or Harold and Maude. It may just want to be another mediocre testament to the palliative nature of friends and the importance of being yourself. I’m happy for that.
Mack & Rita
Director: Katie Aselton (Black Rock)
Screenplay: Madeline Walter (All of the Above), Paul Welsh (Killing It)
Cast: Diane Keaton (Annie Hall), Elizabeth Lail (Countdown)
Run Time: 1h 35m
Rating: PG-13
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take out of WCBE 90.5 FM. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com
