I like how, every time I watch this movie as I get older, it makes more and more sense to me, as I relate more and more with Keira's character. I wish to be as happy as she is and as careless about the world when she is laying low.

Yet another so-called 'warm and tender' love story written by, and for, trendy young mods who seem to know very little about the subject of "love". Even the title given to this story is as fake as any notions the writer offers on how to make a 'loving-commitment'. "Lacking" may have been a more apt title. In Britain, they changed the title to "Say When" (an equally non-event title).Peppered with schoolyard type vulgar language this movie tries to convince us that a 28yr old young woman who's about to get married to her long time lover - would step out of her friends wedding reception for a little fresh air, tell her fiancé she'll be back in a moment, then picks up with a bunch of teens off the street, buys them booze, get tanked, hangs out with them, and decides she will go home with one of the teenage girls for a sleep over - it's here she gets caught out by the girls 35-40yr old father...If you need any help to guess the rest then this could be the movie for you... Not sure why British Keira Knightley was cast as Meagan the 28yr old American but imagine it has something to do with marketing. Cast wise, Chloe Grace Moretz comes off best as Annika the teenage daughter living with her dad, who is troubled by her mothers walk-out on her family - although this theme could have had promise it's explored somewhat superficially, as with most of the sociological aspects within this at times, trite script. Sam Rockwell as Annika's dad lays on the 'I'm-a-super-cool-sorta-guy' mannerisms to a point of irritation. This style of movie has become so predictably a 'Sundance-indi' type production-that some just may prefer to leave the room.Some of the songs and music by Benjamin Gibbard offer interest, especially his song "It's Never Too Late". Much else points to a case of Arrested Development and while it will appeal to certain teen audiences, makes you wish Hollywood's new league (in this case mostly women) would dedicate just a little more time to growing up.

Full disclosure... Seattle is kind of my second home and I became aware of Lynn Shelton as she is one of the key figures in the movie scene there. So I am in the local cheering section but her and the Duplass brothers have put Seattle on the movie map. I think she has a good comedic sense and can evoke really lovely scenes from her female leads. John Huston said that if you cast a movie right the director doesn't have much to do and in this case the movie is brilliantly cast. All of the characters feel real and Keira Knightley is excellent. Chloë Grace Moretz and her are a real treat to watch. This movie is huge fun and deals with real issues in today's world. Isn't that what cinema is supposed to be about?! Why can't a movie like this open on 3000 screens instead of some regurgitated 'lets pretend' super hero drivel? Oh and the scene with Kiera as the street sales sign spinner is worth the price of admission.

Lynn Shelton's Laggies, given her casting choices and the distributional/marketing approaches taken for the film, is her most mainstream effort yet. When Shelton began writing and directing, she serviced the mumblecore niche that wound up helping the careers of actors like Mark Duplass, but rarely did she indulge in any of the praise for her work when it was clear that she possessed something that made her films successful. Shelton's not only one of the few female directors on the rise in American cinema, but one of the few making very naturalistic dramas that frequently show characters wading in the water when it comes to their life decisions and, in turn, making regrettable decisions.Laggies focuses on Keira Knightley's Megan, an aimless twenty-eight-year-old, who went to college, but enjoys her pampered lifestyle of being a sign-holder for her father's (Jeff Garlin) tax firm. The tipping point for Megan recognizing her own aimlessness and disorganized life is when her boyfriend Anthony (Mark Webber) proposes marriage in state of fantasy rather than reality at one of her friends' weddings. On top of that, Megan catches her father cheating on her mother outside of the wedding. Following all this, Megan winds up fleeing and running into a teen girl named Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) who, along with a group of her friends, are trying to score alcohol outside of a supermarket.It is right here where Megan admires their simplistic desires, caves, and purchases some beer and wine coolers for them. Megan is at a crossroads with her life, where she can't make any decision without disappointing or hurting somebody else. The fact that she can do this small favor and see all parties before her satisfied, combined with the youthful desire to obtain the forbidden fruit, resonates with her to the point where she agrees to ditch her friend's wedding to hang out with the teenagers. Here, she learns of their problems, their romantic difficulties, and so forth, and she's reminded of her days with her friends, smoking Djarum Blacks and just in search of a good time and nothing more.Megan begins spending the most time with Annika, even growing close to her father (Sam Rockwell) upon revealing the real reason why she's staying at his home (she doesn't want to go home and wants time away from her own family). This allows for both parties to be satisfied, as Annika doesn't have any close friends and needs an older, wiser guardian for whom to receive advice and Annika's father is starved for company.Laggies is the kind of film that, with a lesser script that went for the ribald side of Annika and Megan's time together instead of the more tender sequences, could've easily been a film much fluffier than it already is. The story is notably more plotted than Shelton's other works like Your Sister's Sister, and moves closer and closer to the mainstream whilst retaining that mumblecoric charm that's been instilled in her work since the beginning. Laggies only really makes a grave mistake when it starts ending up more like a romantic comedy than a film about the struggle to find and stick with an identity for oneself, and that gray area makes Shelton's film, as a whole, a bit rocky.However, few films are willing to tackle these kind of complex emotions especially with the layeredness that Shelton has provided. We learn a lot from watching Knightley's very vivid and natural body language, especially in her facial expressions, and a lot that goes unsaid in this film can be easily revealed and discussed. The entire project, even with its more plotted elements and specific structure, feels natural and a winning step up from Shelton's mediocre Touchy Feely. In a world of sloppy romantic comedies and even more incredulous ones, I can't think of a reason not to see Laggies.Starring: Kiera Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Jeff Garlin, and Mark Webber. Directed by: Lynn Shelton.