This is an indie romantic dramedy about New
York intellectuals
played by Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, and Julianne
Moore.
The pieces of the
movie sound like they're constructed out of a Mad Libs for a specific kind of
mumblecore, Sundance template. Even Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and Wallace Shawn
in supporting roles lean into the indie movie template idea. The fact that Noah
Baumbach or Joe Swanberg's names don't show up anywhere in the credits is
mildly shocking.
Despite my
glibness, this is the kind of movie that I'm naturally going to track down.
Since converting to the church of Greta Gerwig (sometime around Frances Ha),
I've eagerly watched anything she's tied to. Ethan Hawke also has a good eye
for interesting films. There are a lot of encouraging indicators in the
credits. My favorite part of Maggie's Plan though is how Julianne Moore
starts the movie giving a huge performance, then spends the rest of the moving
pulling back until it's quite human and understated by the end.
Maggie's Plan isn't a movie
that really stands out. It's fine. Fans of the films of the previously
mentioned Noah Baumbach (France Ha, While We're Young, Mistress
America) or Joe Swanberg (Happy Christmas, Drinking Buddies)
will find that this is a good approximation of what they do. Rebecca Miller's
film takes some bigger swings, perhaps, but nothing I can see to make her all
that distinctive. Mostly though, I'm watching a movie like this for Grewig,
Hawke, and Moore to be messily likable, and that's what I got from it.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment