Maybe I Do

Despite its talented cast and solid premise, “Maybe I Do” is a clunker of a rom-com.

What do you get when you mix an all-star cast with a premise that promises many comedic moments? In the case of “Maybe I Do,” we get an embarrassingly dull romantic comedy that squanders a talented cast and delivers a forgettable dud to start out 2023.

And when I say a talented cast, I’m talking about two Academy Award winners, multiple nominations and four profoundly respected actors in Hollywood. Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere and William H. Macy lead this disaster of a movie and even they can’t save it from itself.

Aging couples Howard (Gere), Grace (Keaton), Sam (Macy) and Monica (Sarandon) have found themselves at a crossroads in life. After decades of marriage, something is missing, and each tries to find it outside the marriage. Some have affairs, others struggle to find out what went wrong, but each knows what is happening in their lives isn’t working – everyone but Monica.

But not just couples that have been together for decades are struggling. Young lovers Michelle (Emma Roberts) and Allen (Luke Bracey) are at a friend’s marriage, and all is going well until the bride prepares to throw the bouquet to a group of single ladies who have let Michelle move to the front to catch the flowers. But as the flowers sail into the air, Allen sprints across the room, leaps from a table and intercepts them before Michelle can take possession.

The two argue once back at their apartment about Allen’s fear of commitment and both go their separate ways to spend the night at their parent’s homes – which just so happens to be our couples struggling to navigate their own marriages.

Once back at their childhood homes, it’s suggested that they all get together for a family dinner to meet up, our young lovers can reconcile, others reconnect, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Everything is set up for an uncomfortable dinner with awkwardness abounding, but writer/director Michael Jacobs doesn’t even get us to the dinner table. Instead, Jacobs opts to have our couples separate again and talk about everything happening with them and those around them. It’s boring and uninteresting.

The shame of it all is we could have had such a great movie with the talent involved. Gere, Keaton, Macy and Sarandon make the best of what they’re given. They have cute, funny, and poignant moments, but the wearisome dialogue and caricatures of personalities are too much to overcome. Not a single character feels genuine or authentic for much of the movie.

There are moments in the film where you see what it could be. Like the moment when Gere walks into the room where Keaton is watching a TV preacher and as soon as he begins talking about the sins of adultery, he quickly does an about-face and runs from the room. Or when Macy’s character confronts Gere, fists raised and asks if he loves Monica and then utters “damn it” under his breath when he says he doesn’t. The movie’s premise was made for moments like these, but Jacobs gets too lost in his own dialogue to allow them to manifest.

Despite its talented cast and solid premise, “Maybe I Do” is a clunker of a rom-com that is an easy-to-forget January release.