Laggies (2014)

“You can't keep putting aside what you want for some imaginary future. You've gotta suck it up and go with your gut.”

            Ever feel like you have no idea what you want to do with your life or you do know what you want to do but do not really know how to start? Both scenarios are going on with me at the moment. I thought I always had a passion for what I went to school for but I feel that passion is burning out and it does not completely interest me anymore. That totally sucks only because I do not really have any other skill sets in my life and I paid so much damn money for school! Where my true passion lies is with movies and talking about them and film history but there are less jobs for film buffs than there are for museum and art buffs like me. So needless to say I am fucked no matter what.

            I will at least say that I have never run away from something that scared me or made me crazy no matter how much I wanted to. I have had to push myself to get on with life and things in it more times than I care to count. I never used to push myself I used to give up. Looking back at my younger self that is frustrating and I hate myself for doing that. When a character in a movie decides to give up on things or says no to things that could help them I go crazy. That is exactly what the character of Megan does in the movie Laggies.

            Megan (Keira Knightly) is just floating through life. She has been seeing the same guy since high school and he absolutely adore her, she is working for her father’s accounting agency as a sign holder out on the sidewalk, her friends from high school all have their shit together and are super serious about everything, and she seems to have zero ambition in life. Megan’s mother plays the bad parents reminding her to go to career searching workshops and career centers. Megan just blows it off mostly because her father lets her stay in the house and work for him.

            At the wedding for one of her friends, Megan’s boyfriend proposes and she says yes. After that she finds her father cheating on her mother with the mother of the bride. Megan cannot handle what she sees and storms out of the party. She comes to a liquor store where a group of kids are hanging out. One of the kids, Annika (Chloe-Grace Moretz), asks Megan to get them some alcohol with the few bucks they have on them. Megan comes out with beers for them and hangs out with them for a while.

            When Megan gets home her now fiancé suggests that they go elope instead of having a big wedding. She sees that as a good idea but delays the elopement by saying she has a week-long career seminar she wants to go to. Megan gets her chance to escape for a week in form of Annika. Annika needs Megan to pretend to be her mother and come down the guidance office to speak to a counselor. Megan gives Annika a ride home. She asks her new friend if she can stay at her place for a week. Annika says that will fine but the only thing is she lives with her dad and Megan will have to hide from him.

            The plan for Megan to hide from Annika’s father Craig backfires he of course finds out almost right away.

            To wrap this up summary up quickly, Megan lies that to Annika and Craig that she needs a place to stay because her lease on her apartment is up and not because she is getting away from her fiancé and parents, she and Craig of course fall in love, Megan’s entire plan goes to shit and her cover is blown, she goes back to her fiancé but just as she is about to get on the plane she tells him that she cannot marry him, and Megan winds up going back to Craig whom she has real feelings for.

            Big gigantic shock that ending.

            Despite being predictable I really liked Laggies. I liked how it was the girl who did not have her shit together instead of the guy.  With stories like this it is always the guy who is aimless in life and not the girl. There are plenty of women out there in the world who are wandering aimless through life it is not just guys. The story of Megan I felt was handled very well and was played excellently by Keira Knightly. Chloe-Grace Moretz seems so much older than she is and I loved that about her. Her chemistry with older actors and actresses is awesome. With Laggies I finally found a character that I can really relate to, well, except for the running away aspect. Sometimes even though I push myself to keep going and keep looking for jobs and other things in, there are times where I feel aimless.  Laggies is a great movie and one I definitely suggest seeing