A triangle of love takes an unpredictable turn when one man becomes the center of war in a debate between two different women, in vastly different age groups. In “Maggie’s Plan”, Maggie (Greta Gerwig), a young and independent New Yorker, decides to become a single mother and inseminate herself with the help of a former college acquaintance (Travis Fimmel).She appears to be as always, in perfect control of her life. Yet, this meticulously planned transaction nonetheless runs up against the unpredictability of fate when Maggie falls for a “ficto-critical anthropologist” named John (Ethan Hawke), whose marriage to Georgette (Julianne Moore), a brilliant but time-consuming Columbia University Professor, is falling apart. Maggie and John eventually get together, but not in the most ideal of circumstances. After a few troubling years together, when Maggie, now married to John, realizes she’s falling out of love with her new husband, so she comes up with yet another “perfect plan”, reuniting John with his ex-wife. “Maggie’s Plan” is written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and is rated R for adult language and brief sexuality.
“Maggie’s Plan” seems full-proof at first. It’s a quirky romantic comedy that uses the unorthodox method of establishing two different relationships equally in a movie, and relying on the audience to care about the very twists and turns of their trysts. Where it begins to run out of steam is in the back-and-forth of a directional tone that has you questioning just what kind of movie that you are supposed to be indulging in. The film has trouble finding an ending that it and its audience can be proud of, and therefore the movie is kind of forgettable within a couple days. That’s not to say that Rebecca Miller doesn’t succeed in her interesting vision for romance. She writes these characters and relationships in ways that feel very relatable, and nothing feels like watching a movie here; perhaps the real genius to her ways. The outline of this story is very predictable, but it’s the aspects within the bubble that grants this an original spin. The fact that there’s great ability in role reversals between Gerwig and Moore’s characters changing places and situations on more than one occasion, and that you really relate with the female voice in this story more than the male. A refreshing accomplishment for Miller’s agenda on modern dating society.
What I really enjoyed about this movie was a chance to see Gerwig playing the opposite kind of Naive hipster that she has played in films like “Mistress America” and “Weiner Dog”. Her role as Maggie really proves that Gerwig is among the leading actresses for America’s next generation sweetheart. In her, I saw a lot of similarities within my own life, in terms of knowing what you want and blocking out any kind of attempt from anyone who is trying to change that status quo. Her performance has real depth and doesn’t just skate by on awkward social commentary that she could do in her sleep at this point. Gerwig instead charms her way into our hearts by maturing in the film before our very eyes. She is also with a solid performance from Julianne Moore as well. I will get to some unnecessary aspects of this movie later on, but one of the biggest ones that I found for sure was in Moore’s Icelandic accent that serves no point or purpose within the confines of the story and characters. I’m not saying that someone can’t attempt things, I just don’t see the point here. It’s kind of distracting to the very magnetism of the characters and the very surreal story that it is trying to tell, and it takes away from Moore’s already warm delivery. The Oscar winning actress continues to show why her release of emotional depth and magnitude are second to none, in this role of an everyday working woman who lost everything when her back was turned, and she focused on other things.
As far as what the film is trying to say, it strikes a very enriching blow at the life and desire for a woman’s desire into Motherhood, and the responsibilities that come with such a wish. This is certainly new ground for Maggie, so the flash in time at the drop of a hat is very reflective to how fast time flies. I don’t often support these unexplained jumps in the timeframe of the movie, but here it makes sense to the very themes that Miller explores. The scariest aspect for me in the film was that fear of making the wrong partner choice, and then being confined to a lifetime sentence with someone who you barely knew. “Maggie’s Plan” explores the ulterior motives in such a choice, and really drives home a point of being ready to explore the consequences of the drastic decisions that you make for your life.
Some of the aspects of the film that I could’ve done without, gives the movie a borderline pretentious layering that certainly doesn’t fit, nor seem necessary with the satisfying revolving state of affairs that the movie conjures up. One of the major problems that I had with the movie was real time editing that really distracted the conversations and flows from one character to another. One example of this is within the opening twenty minutes of the movie when Maggie and John first meet and strike up a conversation in Central Park. The film decides to cut away while their dialogue is being spoken, on more than one occasion. I get that the idea was to put the audience in the shoes of the actors, but it all seems a little silly and unnecessary considering their relationship should be front and center at what the audience desires. I also didn’t feel like there’s much meat in the story to the third act of this movie. The finale just kind of fizzles out with an ending and answer that would’ve certainly worked ten minutes earlier into the movie. It just feels like this film carries on to fill some kind of hole left by the quick progression of the second act, and I for one could’ve done with this clarity for the characters happening a lot earlier in the movie.
Overall, “Maggie’s Plan” relies on Miller’s complete and singular characters, playing off of her thoroughly female commentary for the explored genre. At times, her voice feels very much like Woody Allen crossed with Noah Baumbach, often exploring that thin line between generations, that compares our differences in culture to our similarities with love. With nourishing performances from Gerwig and Moore, “Maggie’s Plan” is a mildly subversive look at 21st century romance, and the effects that stem from such a nobly-intended cause.
7/10