In general, I hate rom coms. I believe that their portrayal of relationships as happy accidents that always lead to perfect endings is ridiculous and fallacious. I went into Laggies expecting a boring, melodramatic mess. Laggies exceeded my expectations in the sense that it was a fairly organized, moderately entertaining movie, compared to a typical rom com. However, the fact that Laggies was barely able to exceed my extremely low expectations does not make it a good movie.
Laggies follows the tale of Megan (Kiera Knightly), an ordinary middle class girl living in a small town with a pleasant boyfriend. Megan has not moved on from her high school life; she still hangs out with her best friends from high school and is still dating her high school boyfriend. She is 28 and has an advanced degree in marriage therapy, yet she continues to work at her father’s accounting agency as an advertising girl, spinning a sign for the office on the road.
Megan’s life changes wildly when her boyfriend, Anthony (Mark Webber), awkwardly proposes to her in the middle of her friend’s wedding. Unable to cope with this sudden change and the general lack of direction in her life, Megan goes on an emotional tailspin. She quickly befriends a teenager named Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) when she agrees to buy Annika beer from the supermarket. They bond over their distrust for parental figures; Megan discovers that her father (Jeff Garlin) is having an affair, and Annika’s mother (Gretchen Mol) abandoned her as a child. Megan eventually falls for Annika’s father, a cantankerous, bitter divorce attorney (Sam Rockwell). This fling inevitably leads to drama with Megan’s boyfriend and Annika.
In many respects, Laggies sticks to the common tropes of the rom-com genre. In most rom-coms, the protagonist becomes disenchanted with her longstanding relationship and finds solace in a bitter loner, who later loses their bitterness thanks to the love of the protagonist (check). In the process, the protagonist usually also helps a friend, in this case Annika, find love. At the end of the movie, Megan realizes that her life philosophy should be the most cliché philosophy of all time: carpe diem. The movie attempts to break new ground by creating a large age gap between Megan and Annika, inevitably leading to comical moments as Megan seems to regress back to being a teenager; however, this concept, while rather humorous, comes off as slightly creepy as well, especially when Megan has sex with Annika’s father while wearing Annika’s clothing.
Despite the various awkward and few creepy moments in this movie, there are some bright spots as well. Sam Rockwell shines as a quirky divorce attorney. His mannerisms are hilarious, especially when he interrogates his daughter’s friends like a prosecutor. He manages to evoke both the serious mannerisms of a lawyer and the bumbling actions of a single father.
In the end, despite the slightly interesting premise, Laggies fails to stray from common rom-com clichés but is somewhat saved by the dry humor of Sam Rockwell. The movie skirts around the idea that adulthood is a difficult period of life to define, but lacks the courage to continue with this idea and falls back on reliable rom com plot structures. Overall, Laggies is a pleasant and mildly entertaining ride. Viewers who want a simple, fluffy rom-com will certainly leave the theater satisfied, but the movie fails to deliver on any deeper level.
Grade: C
Laggies follows the tale of Megan (Kiera Knightly), an ordinary middle class girl living in a small town with a pleasant boyfriend. Megan has not moved on from her high school life; she still hangs out with her best friends from high school and is still dating her high school boyfriend. She is 28 and has an advanced degree in marriage therapy, yet she continues to work at her father’s accounting agency as an advertising girl, spinning a sign for the office on the road.
Megan’s life changes wildly when her boyfriend, Anthony (Mark Webber), awkwardly proposes to her in the middle of her friend’s wedding. Unable to cope with this sudden change and the general lack of direction in her life, Megan goes on an emotional tailspin. She quickly befriends a teenager named Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) when she agrees to buy Annika beer from the supermarket. They bond over their distrust for parental figures; Megan discovers that her father (Jeff Garlin) is having an affair, and Annika’s mother (Gretchen Mol) abandoned her as a child. Megan eventually falls for Annika’s father, a cantankerous, bitter divorce attorney (Sam Rockwell). This fling inevitably leads to drama with Megan’s boyfriend and Annika.
In many respects, Laggies sticks to the common tropes of the rom-com genre. In most rom-coms, the protagonist becomes disenchanted with her longstanding relationship and finds solace in a bitter loner, who later loses their bitterness thanks to the love of the protagonist (check). In the process, the protagonist usually also helps a friend, in this case Annika, find love. At the end of the movie, Megan realizes that her life philosophy should be the most cliché philosophy of all time: carpe diem. The movie attempts to break new ground by creating a large age gap between Megan and Annika, inevitably leading to comical moments as Megan seems to regress back to being a teenager; however, this concept, while rather humorous, comes off as slightly creepy as well, especially when Megan has sex with Annika’s father while wearing Annika’s clothing.
Despite the various awkward and few creepy moments in this movie, there are some bright spots as well. Sam Rockwell shines as a quirky divorce attorney. His mannerisms are hilarious, especially when he interrogates his daughter’s friends like a prosecutor. He manages to evoke both the serious mannerisms of a lawyer and the bumbling actions of a single father.
In the end, despite the slightly interesting premise, Laggies fails to stray from common rom-com clichés but is somewhat saved by the dry humor of Sam Rockwell. The movie skirts around the idea that adulthood is a difficult period of life to define, but lacks the courage to continue with this idea and falls back on reliable rom com plot structures. Overall, Laggies is a pleasant and mildly entertaining ride. Viewers who want a simple, fluffy rom-com will certainly leave the theater satisfied, but the movie fails to deliver on any deeper level.
Grade: C
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