Laggies (2014)

Laggies (2014)

starring Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell

directed by Lynn Shelton

Megan (Keira Knightley) and Anthony have been dating since they graduated from high school, ten years before. She has a post graduate degree but has yet to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She still works as a sign twirler for her father's accounting business.

Anthony tries proposing to Megan at the reception after one of their friends gets married. Megan freaks out and won't let him go through with it. She goes outside to get some fresh air and spots her dad fooling around with a woman other than her mom. She freaks out again and leaves the reception. She runs into a group of teens outside of a grocery store. Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz), one of the teens, asks Megan to buy them some alcohol. Megan winds up hanging out with the teens for a while.

Megan apologizes to Anthony when she gets home and announces that she is going to attend a week-long career counseling seminar starting the next day. Anthony is happy for her. They talk about eloping after the seminar. Megan gets a call from Annika while she is on her way to seminar. Annika needs her help.

Megan never makes it to the seminar. She lies to Anthony about going to the seminar. She stays with Annika and Craig (Sam Rockwell), Annika's father. She lies to Craig about why she needs a place to stay. Things get complicated. 

Thoughts

What I have described is maybe the first half of the movie. There are a lot of twists and turns in this story. I can see how some people might find some of the twists and turns to be too much. I was okay with most of it. I enjoyed the ride.

I was a bit worried about where the story would go. It went to some places that I didn't want it to go but the movie was complex enough that I wasn't bothered by the fact that it went to those places.

I watched the trailers for this movie after watching the movie. The trailers give away too much of the story, more than I revealed above.  

I was very impressed with the performances in this movie. All the actors were very good. Misty, Annika's friend, is played by Kaitlyn Dever who was one of the leads in Booksmart (2019). She was excellent in the small amount of screen time she got in this movie.

This movie made me think of Young Adult (2011), which I watched the year this movie came out. It isn't terribly similar to this movie but both are about women who are still stuck in the past.

The ending was moving. It got me. It was kind of happy but it was a rough ride getting there. It was a bit fairy tale but not completely. Were things great at the end? Yes, but it did feel like the story didn't take the easy way there. I think part of what I may like about this movie is the fact that it is different and that it went to places that made me cringe and despite those facts it seemed to work for me. Maybe it didn't really work but I got something out of it.