MAYBE I DO (2023)

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Michael Jacobs
Cast: Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, William H. Macy
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 20 July 2023

Synopsis: With a star-studded ensemble cast, MAYBE I DO stars Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey and William H. Macy in a multi-generational romantic comedy. Michelle (Roberts) and Allen (Bracey) have reached the point in their relationship to take the next steps toward marriage. Thinking it is a good idea to invite their parents to finally meet, they set a dinner and make it a family affair. To everyone’s surprise, the affair takes on a whole new meaning as the parents already know each other all too well - they’ve been cheating on their spouses for months…with each other. Trapped in this precarious predicament, they try to hide their dalliances from the kids while confronting their spouse’s lovers head-on. Let the games begin!

Movie Review:

The star-studded romantic comedy Maybe I Do is more of an example of how to make a bad rom-com rather than a genuinely rib-tickling, smart comedy about mismatched couples.

The cast for a start is godsend. Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey teamed up for the second time after their dismal Netflix rom-com, Holidate. Then there is Richard Gere who romanced Emma’s aunt in Pretty Woman. Gere’s apparent co-star in Shall We Dance?, Susan Sarandon. The evergreen actress and also producer, Diane Keaton and the always watchable William H. Macy. Together these six talents gather in this sitcom-like comedy that overruns an hour.

We are first introduced to Sam (Macy) and Grace (Keaton) who met in a cinema hall and proceed to a seedy motel as they open up their long bottled-up feelings to each other. They never do the “deed” to put it bluntly and they just spent the night talking. Then we meet Howard (Gere) and Monica (Sarandon) in a fancy hotel room with Howard initiating a breakup to their four months affair. Yes they are both married just not to each other. Last but not least, we follow a young couple, Michelle (Roberts) and Allen (Bracey) having a heated argument after the man leap off a table to intercept the wedding bouquet which is meant for Michelle during an earlier wedding ceremony.

Instead of an ensemble cast in a series of stories liked the late Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, Maybe I Do turns into Meet the Parents but without the laughs and sparks to get the script to go on for another hour or so. When your respective in-laws are having an affair with one another, you expect the fun to begin. Perhaps by then you already suspect Michelle is the daughter of Howard and Grace and Allen is the son of Sam and Monica.

Yet the screenplay and directions by Michael Jacobs never delivers let alone being formulaic. Maybe it’s because the material is based on a stage play by Jacobs decades back. Each character is given the chance to deliver heartfelt pages of dialogue about redemption, forgiveness, deeply recollections of their past love lives while the audiences are waiting for the chaos to unfold given Monica is such a revengeful, vampy soul and the religious Grace is panicky about her “one-night stand”.

The biggest problem with Maybe I Do is the flick tries too hard to be deep and philosophical. It’s difficult for audiences to empathize with the characters simply we do not know their backstories enough to do so. How did the relationship between Sam and Monica deteriorates? Is that the reason why Allen remains non-committal to marriage? The marriage of Howard and Grace on the other hand seems to be relying on routine instead of romance.

Despite so, Jacob’s story is well-intentioned and attempts to speak out on the balance of love and marriage but the end result struggles very hard to stay relevant and interesting. We love the cast members by the way however they need a better script to justify their screen presence.

Movie Rating:

(If you have the money to pay for a ticket to watch a star-studded cast in a talky movie about marriage and life, why not?)

Review by Linus Tee