When I saw this in the theater, one word came to mind — delightful. Yes, that is the perfect word to describe Because I Said So. It is a light film that has a couple of poignant "real" moments adrift in the sea of a formulaic "chick flick." This is a movie that exists in that Hollywood-created fantasy of the romantic comedy. It is a land where people who should not, and would not, have these problems in the real world have the problems that probably exist in one form or another in the lives of many of their real world counterparts.

Diane Keaton is the matriarch of a family that consists of three daughters produced by a strong gene pool. Keaton is Daphne Wilder, mother to Maggie, Mae, and Milly, played by Lauren Graham, Piper Perabo, and Mandy Moore (see what I mean by good genes?). Anyway, Daphne is a single mom, after her husband's early exit, so early in fact that he never appears in the movie. She's had to be the single point of influence for her girls. Her love knows no bounds, and may just be the slightest bit invasive, particularly when it comes to Milly.

You see, while Maggie and Mae are happily married, Milly seems to be particularly inept at finding a lasting relationship. She seems to have given up, in a way, throwing herself into her burgeoning catering business.

Seeing a need for a man in her daughter's life, Daphne sets out to find one for her. This plan requires the placing of a tiny little Internet ad, and setting up interviews. The interviews lead Daphne to Jason (Tom Everett Scott), a successful and handsome architect.

She arranges for the two to have a "meet cute" which leads to a dating situation. Of course things do not go as planned as Jason has a little competition, unbeknownst to him, in the form of Johnny (Gabriel Macht). Johnny is a musician who comes across as the more genuine of the two men, but they each are a good match for the lovely young Milly, if for different reasons.

By now you should probably be able to see where this going. If you can't, take a guess as you will most likely be right. This film follows the formula with no major deviations. Formula is generally used as a criticism of a movie; I have used it myself with that intent, but it is not always the case. The formula is a formula for a reason — it worked at some point, and then it was used a few more times with more success than not. The key is to take your chosen formula and inject it with, in this case, likeable characters, some light comedy, and a happy ending.

At the very least use the formula, but don't approach it as such; all too often bad formula movies are bad not because of the formula, but because the formula was used as a strict roadmap for the film. Here it is definitely formula, but it has an energy to it that makes it is easy to overlook. Credit to Director Michael Lehman and screenwriters Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson for succeeding in making the formula work for them.