Day 1228 - Laggies

Laggies

Keira Knightley can be a divisive actress for many people.  And I say that because I know a lot of people who don't seem to like her.  Personally, I'm a fan.  However, this is the second film of hers that I've seen in the last year in which she uses an American accent.  I never fully acclimated to it during The Imitation Game, but in Laggies I started to get used to it.  I'd still rather she keep the British accent in her movies, but that's just my hangup.

Anyways, the movie I watched tonight was Laggies, and it's about Megan (Keira Knightley) who's stuck spinning her wheels in life, and goes into a tailspin when her longtime boyfriend proposes.  Through a pretty real turn of events, she befriends Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz), and to gather her thoughts, ends up spending a week at Annika's house.To complicate matters, Annika's dad is played by Sam Rockwell, and we all know how charming he can be.

The movie has a lot on its mind, but it never pushes its agenda on you, but rather, lets the events that happen to the characters naturally unfold.  You understand why Megan freaks out when the boyfriend proposes.  You see the quiet desperation that Annika has when she talks about the mother who abandoned her family.  You see Sam Rockwell's Craig do the best he can at being a good dad.  And you see how all these relationships intertwine and sometimes become stronger, and sometimes unravel.

I read a lot of reviews when this came out, and nearly all of them weren't exactly negative, but none of them really seemed to like the movie, either not appreciating Megan's inability to "grow up" or wondering how the relationship between Megan and Annika really was supposed to work.  As I said, I thought all the relationships were genuine, I thought nearly every part in the movie was cast perfectly (Jeff Garlin as Megan's dad and Kaitlyn Dever as Annika's best friend were standouts), and I thought it was interesting that Megan had studied to be a therapist and was self-aware of the path that she was taking (even if she never strayed off it).

Yeah, I liked it.  Now if they could've come up with an explanation that would have let Keira use her natural accent, it would have been nearly perfect.

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