MAYBE I DO– 2 STARS

From time to time, familiar premises need a little wrinkle or twist to not be another retread. Thanks to the classic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, its lesser remake Guess Who, the Meet the Parents mini-franchise, and even the new You People on Netflix starring Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, audiences have attended more than enough awkward meetings and dinners between contradictory parents trying to prevent a future marriage between their cherished children. Longtime Boy Meets World TV writer Michael Jacobs, making his feature directorial debut with a laudable cast, conjured an enticing sprinkle of spice towards this familiar setup with Maybe I Do.

The film begins innocuously enough by introducing three pairings with different heat levels. There’s the whimsical youth of Allen and Michelle, played by Hacksaw Ridge’s Luke Bracy and Emma Roberts of We’re the Millers. They are at Michelle’s best friend’s wedding when Allen’s cold feet spring him to intercept the bouquet toss destined for Michelle. They leave in an embarrassing huff to their apartment at odds.

Next, Maybe I Do interweaves two senior couples played by nothing short of four silver screen icons. The God-fearing Grace (eternal rom-com muse Diane Keaton) has taken pity on the sorrowful Sam (William H. Macy, resting on his earnest strengths) crying at the same foreign film screening. They strike up a soulful connection and decide to haplessly share a bucket of fried chicken, some Frescas, and a cheap motel room to consider new sparks. 

Their setting is diametrically opposite to the lavish downtown suite accommodations shared by the stern Howard (the silver fox of Richard Gere) and hot-to-trot Monica (ageless sex symbol Susan Sarandon). Unlike the sweet conversations shared between Sam and Grace, these two are virtually at each other’s throats with barbed retorts and bedroom threats. Howard is trying to reason with Monica to end whatever tryst we are seeing between them, and she’s not letting him off the hook. 

LESSON #1: INFIDELITY ALWAYS SPICES THINGS UP– Maybe I Do gets interesting when the night ends and the four older folks go their separate ways. As they arrive at their respective homes, we learn Howard is married to Grace and has been having a four-month affair with Monica. Without fully believing or vocalizing the suspicions, Sam and Grace’s mutual states of helpless aimlessness brought them together. Therein lies the rub of Maybe I Do that swerves the mundane formula.

Wait. It gets better. Allen is the strapping son of Monica and Sam, and Michelle is the doting daughter of Howard and Grace. When their own argument after the wedding reception stunt sours, they retreat to their parents’ homes for counsel. As a peace offering to sort things out with parental help behind them, Michelle and Allen decide it’s finally time that their families meet and set up a dinner at Howard and Grace’s house.

LESSON #2: EXPOSING SECRETS IS EXCITING– My oh my! Guess how that is going to go! The dramatic irony held by the audience at this point in Maybe I Do creates a feverish anticipation for when the doorbell rings and those four legendary faces see each other with their oblivious kids in the middle of the nervous crossfire. Now that’s how you wrinkle the blending-of-opposite-families subgenre of rom-coms.

With this setup and this collection of esteemed talent, the comedic results of Maybe I Do should almost write themselves. You drop those four charisma bombs in one living room or dining room, let them loose to dodge scintillating shrapnel, and watch who gets consumed by the explosions. Add in two young-and-beautiful people to be the audience’s target of wish fulfillment for final act nuptials, and it should be so damn easy for Michael Jacobs’s script and direction.

Alas, Maybe I Do explodes with the equivalent force of a deflated balloon. Outside of a few minutes of “oh crap” realizations, the volatile narratives get separated by a frankly boring discourse of jaded marriage advice. It becomes quickly apparent that these two old couples, despite raising two wonderful kids, have essentially failed in unexciting ways. Their issues bubble over any little glimmers of optimism from Allen and Michelle. 

All four big names get their scripted nuggets with Richard Gere’s portrayal of cynicism and Diane Keaton’s ill-fitting religious flavor leading the majority. Emma Roberts’s willowy naivety and Luke Bracey’s insufferable dunderhead offer little levity and disappear inexplicably without visible resolution before Maybe I Do rushes to its finish to put a tidy bow of convenience on matters. The only person who comes to the domestic ruckus perky to play is Susan Sarandon. She’s an absolute hoot, and we wish more were having her level of relishing fun. 

LESSON #3: LIVE YOUR BEST LIVES– Here are examples of the elders’ mutually broad attempts at wisdom. Rhetorical questions like, “Are we living our best lives?” and “Don’t we deserve happiness?” and others put a fire hose of lament on what could have been an entertaining and heated predicament. While Maybe I Do is in the right heartfelt place to discuss the value of marriage and how children don’t have to turn out like their parents, there is a colossal amount of “practice what you preach” missing to make it tangible.