“Jumping the still-catching-up-from-vacation blog queue with an advance screening. Kiera Knightly, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Sam Rockwell star in Laggies, a film about a millennial (Knightly’s Megan) who is taking a break from her stalled life in hopes of jump starting her future. On paper, it sounds kind of dull and sappy. Hell, the trailer didn’t even help matters there. But I will see Rockwell in just about anything, and those lovely ladies he’s costarring with add it to the priority list.
Little more elaboration on the story. Megan’s clique from high school is rapidly growing up: marriage, kids, jobs, the whole 9 yds. Between not having any career motivation, an unexpected proposal from her bf, and some tension with her parents, she hides out with high schooler Annika (Moretz) and her father (Rockwell). The plot does sound a little dull, but the strong cast really sells it and instills a lot of heart into it.
I was most impressed with how much presence Moretz has at her still very young age. Her tween character could easily be annoying or overlooked, but she commands the screen when she’s on it. It should be a strange dynamic, that a 20-something wants to hang out with a teen, but watching this, I wanted to hang out with her. Knightly is always so full of life, that she doesn’t let her character’s malaise drag down the film. She brings out the humor in the simple moments, also making you care about a character that’s not very easy to love. Rockwell got the short end of the stick as far as charaters go, being stuck with a less fleshed out trope, but his attack was a solid attempt to add some weight. Any other actor I may not have been as into, or at least I would have been bored during his scenes, but he did enough to keep me interested.
Ultimately, it was an enjoyable film, even if thinking back on it I start feeling some of the blahs driving our protagonist. I wouldn’t have wanted to see it with any other cast, and frankly these guys deserve a better film together. Still, a nice and light film as we start to dive into the weighty gloom of fall films
Laggies – \m/ \m/ \m/