Laggies tells the tale of Megan (Keira Knightley), who cannot grow up. She’s stuck in a high school mentality even though she has advanced degrees and has been out of high school for 10 years. She’s had the same boyfriend, Anthony (Mark Webber), since high school. Despite her college education, she’s working for her dad, standing on the sidewalk holding a sign advertising his tax business. She doesn’t have a clue about what she wants to do with her life.
Spoilers ahead.
When her boyfriend proposes in the middle of her friend’s wedding, she goes into crisis mode. She flees the wedding and goes home with a teenager named Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) she meets by chance.
There have been plenty of films about guys who won’t grow up. This turns that idea on its head, and does it with a fresh approach.
Megan hangs around with Annika for a week. Annika’s dad, Craig (Sam Rockwell) is a lawyer. He interrogates Megan at length and finally decides she can spend some time at his house in an extended sleepover.
I found the basic premise uniquely handled. There have been plenty of films about guys who won’t grow up. This turns that idea on its head, and does it with a fresh approach.
The film is ultimately about being in charge of your own decisions and making your own choices. Megan is a woman who drifts along and lets everyone else make decisions for her. She doesn’t realize that’s what’s wrong with her life, why she’s aimless. She knows she’s a mess, she doesn’t know why.
Getting out of her routine and away from her own rut helps Megan finally break loose and take some action to direct her own life. This involves attending high school parties and proms, getting drunk and having sex with Craig, taking Annika to visit the mother who abandoned her at age 7, befriending a skinny turtle, getting arrested, and telling everyone she meets a series of amazing lies.
Written by Andrea Seigel and directed by Lynn Shelton, Laggies was released in 2014. It’s available on Amazon Prime, Netflix and iTunes. I completely recommend it.
One last thought: Chloë Grace Moretz is very talented. Very talented.
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