A movie with a cast that includes Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Maya Rudolph, and Bill hader couldn’t be bad, could it? No, not bad but not good either. Maggie’s Plan is directed by Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller’s daughter and wife of Daniel Day Lewis. Miller also wrote the screenplay so what goes wrong is on her, not the excellent cast. Greta Gerwig plays a frumpy academic who stumbles into an affair with another academic, Ethan Hawke. Hawke is having marital problems with Julianne Moore. Moore plays a frosty high-powered professor at Columbia University more interested in her rising career than her husband. But, once Greta is married to Ethan Hawke’s character, she discovers he’s narcissistic and self-absorbed. So Gretta decides to come up with a plan where Hawke goes back to Julianne Moore. Maggie’s Plan is supposed to be a romantic comedy but there’s little romance or comedy in this awkward film. GRADE: B-
The critics seemed to agree that it was intelligent, well-played, witty… and somehow unsatisfying.
Dan, part of the problem with MAGGIE’S PLAN is its predictability.
I’ve only seen her in a couple of things, but that Gretta Herwig just rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it’s that she’s always playing self-absorbed young women being framed as “wildly free and intellectually interesting” (especially by male directors), but I find her acting style insufferable. As is the plot of this “romantic comedy”: she discovers she bought a pig in a poke and now she want to send him back? For a variety of reasons, this doesn’t rise to even “I’ll watch it on Netflix” level for me.
Also, remember that Sally Field movie from a few months back (“My Name Is Doris” or something like that) and I said it looks like everything we’re supposed to know about her character was being communicated through the enormous hairbow she wore? Well, I’m thinking the same thing about that crazy hat-like object perched on Herwig’s head in the above photo.
Deb, I had the same sinking feeling watching MY NAME IS DORIS and MAGGIE’S PLAN. Paint-by-number movie making.
Deb, I feel the same way about Gretta Herwig. I just don’t connect with her performances. But MAGGIE’S PLAN has more problems than Herwig. The script doesn’t give Ethan Hawke, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Wallace Shawn, Ida Rohatyn, Monte Greene, and Julianne Moore much to do.
Once again, Deb and I are on a mind meld.
Greta Gerwig is the latest “critics’ darling” whose appeal just escapes me totally. She wildly overacts in an unsubtle “look at me!” style. I don’t get it. I’ve never been a big fan of Ethan Hawke either, though that changed somewhat with his excellent performance in BOYHOOD. But “narcissistic” is pretty much what I think when Hawke’s name comes up.
Instead, we watched the movie Patti recommended recently, LIKE CRAZY, which I think I liked more than Jackie, surprisingly. Now Felicity Jones is appealing. I did find one disturbing parallel with the recent BROOKLYN, however. (SPOILER ALERT – IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET DON’T READ THIS) How does a young woman go back home (to Ireland, or England) and start a relationship serious enough that marriage is proposed, without telling the man that she is already married? (END SPOILER)
Jeff, I watched LIKE CRAZY after Patti’s blog review like you did. I noted the parallels with BROOKLYN, too. As much as I kike Felicity Jones, how does Chekhov NOT end up with Jennifer Lawrence?
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed Greta Gerwig, so not sure I’ve seen her in anything. this movie is not for me, but I’ll put like crazy on my netflix queue based on all the recommendations here
Good question! Well, the end certainly did not look promising for the marriage, so Jennifer is still in the picture. Clearly, she wants him.
Jeff, I know who I’d prefer in a contest between Jones and Lawrence!
What a shame – the cast would certainly draw me in! I shall consider myself warned …
Sergio, the cast wasn’t given much to do. All that talent wasted!