Laggies (2014)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Slacker Megan (Keira Knightley) works part-time for her doting dad as a human billboard despite being a university graduate. She has been living with high school sweetheart Anthony (Mark Webber) but like her life, her relationship with him isn't going anywhere.

One day, Anthony proposes to her. Thrown for a loop by this unexpected development (as well as seeing her dad make out with another woman), she ends up hiding from Anthony and her friends. She crashes with Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) - a teenage girl that she had just met - to get away from her regular life and get her head together.

Annika's single dad Craig (Sam Rockwell) is exasperated by his uninvited guest but soon grows to enjoy the company of the free-spirited Megan. A week passes and Megan has to return to Anthony and her regular life.

***

Laggies is Reality Bites meets Lost in Translation, a movie for today's directionless millenials who are drifting in their career and personal life. Despite its roster of mainstream stars, Laggies is an indie film from indie director Lynn Shelton (it premiered at Sundance 2014) and freshman writer Andrea Seigel.

The movie's trailer highlights the comedic bits, and emphasizes Keira Knightley's scenes with Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. But this is more a light drama with Keira Knightley front and center - Moretz, like Sam Rockwell, plays a supporting character.

And it works, though in an art-film kind of way. We enjoy the journey as we watch Megan bumble through her life and has minor misadventures. But this is the extreme show-don't-tell storytelling technique of Lost in Translation - effective if you're a movie buff, but which will cause the general public to complain, But nothing happens!

An interesting pattern is beginning to emerge from Keira Knigtley's movie choices. Laggies has the same feel (though very different plot) from Begin Again and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. It's a combination of light romance, light drama and light comedy. All done in a simple, intimate, upper middle-class setting.

Laggies seems to the kind of movie that Keira Knightley makes for fun, in between paycheck blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I'm still not big fan of hers, but considering her track record in choosing scripts, I'll be looking out for her movies.