Well, it’s about time we got a Keira Knightley vehicle, isn’t it? This summer alone, I’ve been asked to accept Wallace Shawn, Elizabeth Banks and a tailless dolphin as heroes, why not, you know, somebody I might want to follow for a while? That’s crazy talk, right?
Megan (Knightley) and Anthony (Mark Webber) are a dead couple. No one has told them yet. Nobody knows. Heck, Megan and Anthony don’t even know. Their lives are way too frivolous for their ages (approaching 30). Megan, for instance, has an advanced degree and yet her only source of income comes from being one of those pathetic saps on a street corner holding a helpful arrow. Does anybody pay attention to those guys? I always feel sorry for them. Oh, and Megan/Anthony’s friends suck. We find this out a bachelorette party in which Megan is taken to task for tweaking a Buddha’s nipples. Hey, c’mon, who hasn’t done that? At the wedding, Anthony – motivated perhaps by self-disgust—decides now is the time to propose to Megan. Horrified, she bolts, only to discover her father getting a hand job from a woman who is not her mother. You know it’s not your night when … Outside a liquor store, some teens are working on their clichés and have currently made it up to skateboarding, minor vandalism and trying to get a gullible adult to be an alcohol mule. Megan doesn’t buy the charade, but she also doesn’t have a problem with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Before you know it, Megan and new teen pal Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) are close friends; Megan even joins in their evening fun of hanging out and TPing a friend’s house. Megan and Annika immediately develop a symbiotic relationship; the younger is looking for a mother figure, the elder looking to recapture lost youth. This is exacerbated when Megan runs away from Anthony, her parents, and anything resembling responsibility for a week, opting of all places for Annika’s house.
I have a teen daughter. If she brought home somebody older than 20, I’d have
an issue … or maybe 20 of them. I don’t care if my daughter brings home Keira Knightley; that isn’t good news. And dad (Sam Rockwell – damn, I love Sam Rockwell’s résumé) is right there with me. You don’t get the benefit of the doubt when you’re a post grad school twentysomething befriending high schoolers.
Geez, Jim, why did you like this? Probably because I’m fond of all three leads – and also, Laggies is both sweet and honest. It’s kind of a female Failure to Launch … except with entertainment. The movie knows darn well there’s something wrong with this set-up:
Craig (Rockwell): “Hey did you hear the one about the grown woman who started to hanging out with bunch of pubescent kids?”
Megan: “No, what?”
Craig: “No, I’d never heard it either.”
And, yet, Laggies makes a strong case for the idea that true friendship transcends demographics. I like that message. But I’m still not comfortable with my daughter hanging out with grown up strangers.
Entrenched Keira befriends a sprite
For an intense week long overKnight
Excuse me, you —
Have you thought this through?
It doesn’t seem terribly bright
Rated R, 99 Minutes
D: Lynn Shelton
W: Andrea Seigel
Genre: Arrested development
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Slackers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Parents of teens
