Nov. 06--In "Laggies," Keira Knightley tries on a generic American dialect. Based on the results, the actress defines that as "nasal, and how!"
Her character, Megan, is 28 years old and a Seattle native. She has thus far let life happen to her, and around her. She lacks a career (she freelances as a sign-twirler for her accountant father, played by Jeff Garlin) and finds herself through another year of a lengthy relationship with her boyfriend, nice but dull, played by Mark Webber. He proposes, she accepts, but it's a passive sort of acceptance. Then she freaks out.
And then, first-time screenwriter Andrea Seigel starts serving up whoppers. In the first far-fetched narrative contrivance, Megan befriends Annika, a graduating high school senior (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) whom she meets outside a liquor store. (Megan buys.)
Whopper No. 2: Pretending to be out of town at a self-actualization seminar, Megan hides out from her fiance and becomes a stealth roommate at Annika's house. The teenager lives with her dad, played by Sam Rockwell, who upon discovery wonders who this Megan woman is and what's her angle.
Every microbe of "Laggies" conspires to get Rockwell and Knightley together. That's not so much of a whopper as it is an inevitability.
The movie is too mild to provoke much active frustration, but "Laggies" never quite gets over its credibility problems. Lynn Shelton's previous features (this is the first she didn't write or co-write herself) include the genial, puttering indies "Humpday" and "Your Sister's Sister."
By dint of its on-screen talent, "Laggies" qualifies as a genial, puttering indie with a starrier cast.
"I can't just float around forever," Megan says at one point. While Knightley's frustrated character is plenty relatable on some levels, by the time that line is spoken, you can't help but think: Yep.
The best of "Laggies," both in the writing and the playing, comes in the square-offs between Knightley and Rockwell.
They're genuinely funny, and because the actors have such different approaches to comedy -- Knightley's technique is there, externally, every second; Rockwell's is sly and practically subterranean -- their scenes carry a charge.
The film needs it.
"Laggies" -- 2 stars
MPAA rating: R (for language, some sexual material and teen partying)
Running time: 1:40
Opens: Friday
mjphillips@tribune.com
