Maybe I Do

Have you ever watched a film and, at the end, genuinely questioned your life choices, including why you just wasted an hour and a half watching the said film? That was me as the credits rolled on Maybe I Do on Amazon Prime Video.

Never in the history of cinema have so many high-profile actors managed to so spectacularly bomb in such a short period of time. And we're talking about Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy and Diane Keaton.

By any stretch of the imagination, collectively, they have produced some incredible films. Maybe I Do is not one of them.

But before we delve into a review of the whole movie, let's find out what it is all about.

What Is Maybe I Do About?

Written, Directed and produced by Michael Jacobs, Maybe I Do follows three couples. Grace and Howard are married and parents to Michelle (Emma Roberts). Monica and Sam are also married and parents to Allen (Luke Bracey).

Allen and Michelle are in a relationship, but with Michelle wanting to get married and Allen unsure if love lasts forever, they are at an impasse.

So they decide to get their parents together to talk through whether or not they should get married or break up.

What they don't know is that each of their parents is having an affair with each other. Even the parents don't know they are having an affair with their own child's potential in-laws.

Of course, this all comes to a head at a dinner when they all finally meet. Once all of their secrets have been aired, must work out if they will stay together or leave each other.

And that, dear readers, is the implausible and pointless set-up for Maybe I Do. And I'm not kidding when I tell you that is literally all there is to this film.

Maybe I Do Official Trailer

Is Maybe I Do Worth Watching?

Firstly I urge you to watch the trailer. Everything you see in it, the fun, the comedy, the clever quips, the promise of a half-decent romcom – it's all a lie.

Maybe I Do has managed to do the near impossible and take a rom-com premise and create it entirely devoid of either Rom or Com.

We start with the credits rolling first. Seriously, at least three full minutes of credits before we ever glimpse the film.

It then starts when, at her best friend's wedding, Michelle's boyfriend dives across the room to catch the bouquet, thereby upending her dream of being the next to get married.

This leads the otherwise happy couple to decide if they should even be together, and by now, we already know that both sets of parents are having affairs, well sort of, but not really. It's complicated.

From there on in, it's simply flat, boring scenes, set in one house as existential conversations about love and how getting old sucks take place between the parents. By now, the young couple have argued and left.

So why is it so bad? I'm going to suggest that the fault lies squarely with the material as it is based on Michael Jacobs's own play Cheaters. And all he did was take that play, transplant it into a house and film it.

He didn't adapt it for the big screen, he didn't infuse it with an energy to keep the audience engaged. He simply thought a flat drama about four older people lamenting about love and the ageing process would be enough of a hook. It isn't.

The only bright spark is William H. Macy, who was actually funny and one of the only likeable characters in it.

Otherwise, despite its impressive cast, and a relatively happy ending (which is about 30 seconds of the film), this is a decidedly inferior addition to the romcom genre. And it's 90 minutes of your life you won't get back.

Maybe I Do Movie Cast

Richard Gere as Howard, married to Grace, had an affair with Monica and is Michelle's father

Diane Keaton (Book Club) as Grace, married to Howard, had a platonic affair with Sam and Michelle's mother

Susan Sarandon as Monica, who is married to Sam, had an affair with Howard and is Allen's mother

William H. Macy as Sam, who is unhappily married to Monica and Allen's father

Luke Bracey (Holidate) as Allen

Emma Roberts (American Horror Story) as Michelle