Laggies (2014)
Directed by Lynn Shelton
Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig.
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At the age of 28, rootless Megan (Keira Knightley, "Begin Again") realizes she's appalled by the high school friends she still hangs around with.
If this movie and last summer’s “Begin Again” are any indication, she might really be a comic actress.
But together with her turn in this past summer's superior rom-com "Begin Again," it not only stands to remind audiences of her impressive range as an actress, but -- steeped as her character is in a down-to-Earth charm and girl-next-door approachability -- it also shows that she can rock a punchline every bit as well as she can a petticoat.
But it's also the way the actress is making herself at home in lighter films, like the delightful "Begin Again," from earlier this summer, in which she spends her time navigating the New York music scene with Mark Ruffalo.
When she’s not squeezing into corsets or chunky cardigans, as she does in this month’s The Imitation Game, Keira Knightley’s carving a niche for herself over the pond in low-budget crowd-pleasers like Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World and this year’s music industry romance Begin Again.
You almost forget that the actress made her mark in serious period pieces playing trussed-up women — "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), which earned her an Oscar nomination, and " Atonement ," in 2007, for example.
In movies like “Atonement” or “Pride & Prejudice,” the star’s fashion-model gawgeousness doesn’t distract from her sizable acting skills so much as complement them.
Knightley effectively trades period costume-wear (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) for oversized pyjama bottoms and a credible American accent to play Megan, who bolts from a surprise marriage proposal to hide out with a new group of teen pals.
Or the Oscar-nominated actress who, after building a name on period dramas such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Atonement," realizes that she's got a knack for smart, modern romantic comedies.
You almost forget that the actress made her mark in serious period pieces playing trussed-up women — "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), which earned her an Oscar nomination, and " Atonement ," in 2007, for example.
In movies like “Atonement” or “Pride & Prejudice,” the star’s fashion-model gawgeousness doesn’t distract from her sizable acting skills so much as complement them.
Knightley effectively trades period costume-wear (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) for oversized pyjama bottoms and a credible American accent to play Megan, who bolts from a surprise marriage proposal to hide out with a new group of teen pals.
Or the Oscar-nominated actress who, after building a name on period dramas such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Atonement," realizes that she's got a knack for smart, modern romantic comedies.
In any other movie, Megan is akin to the disaster that is Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” without all the ugly character traits, but she still breaks a lot of people’s lives, trust and hearts along the way.
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YA novelist Andrea Seigel's central idea - that of taking an adult whose degree hasn't turned into a career (Megan twirls a sign promoting her dad's accounting firm) and having her grow up by returning to her high school years - is a good one, but it falls into the trap of having Megan 'grow up' by finding a new man, her own career path still rolling out into uncharted waters (at least she provides a nice yin yang, Megan having ditched a career in marriage counseling when she couldn't relate to her clients with Craig's (Sam Rockwell, "The Way Way Back") work as a divorce lawyer).
Similar to how he gave The Way Way Back a boost of comic energy last year, Rockwell steals every scene he's in and makes everyone around him better.