Mack & Rita is an alleged comedy that uses the body switching formula as its premise, but it does so in such an aggressively bland fashion that none of the actors really inhabit the material. Instead, they just look as if they’re merely surviving the screenplay and by default, so are we.
The movie stars Elizabeth Lail as Mack Martin, a 30-year-old writer who wishes she could be and do more with her life. She’s invited by her best friend to attend her bachelorette party in Palm Springs when she stumbles upon a device that looks like a tanning bed, but it’s designed to be a kind of wish fulfillment machine.
Mack emerges from the machine not as her 30-year-old self, but at 70 and she’s played by Diane Keaton. Naturally, Mack is freaked out by her appearance and wonders what went wrong. She even uses the tried-and-true method of trying to explain this to her best friend.
Eventually, Mack does what the screenplay requires her to do and accepts the circumstances. She reinvents herself as Rita and breaks free of the confines that held her back as Mack.
She meets a group of similarly aged women who are wine aficionados and together they bond by getting to know Rita without ever really knowing her secret. These scenes are part of the bland nature of the movie where, instead of allowing these women to go full throttle with the comedy, they’re reduced to idiotic dialogue and character development that seems muted.
In addition to having forced chemistry with her female costars, there’s also a forced romance between Rita and Mack’s neighbor/dogsitter (Dustin Milligan). Again, the boyfriend is clueless about Rita’s predicament because the screenplay requires it.
Keaton seems totally lost in this story. She’s not given any moments in which her character is given any velocity to do something memorable. Instead, she looks as if she’s handcuffed by the artifices of the script.
A lot of attention is paid to the fish-out-of-water idea that Rita finds herself in, but it’s never once funny or charming and the supporting cast looks equally lost. This looks and feels like the first draft was filmed and it stopped there.
I know this movie is aimed at a female-centric audience, but I have a strong suspicion that most women will probably be seeing Where the Crawdads Sing instead.
Grade: C-
(Rated PG-13 for some drug use, sexual references and language.)
