If the movies of Woody Allen and Nancy Myers had a baby it would look like Rebecca Miller’s “Maggie’s Plan.”
Miller breast fed the newborn she just had with Daniel Day Lewis when I interviewed her for “Personal Velocity” in 2002. And motherhood is also the theme of “Maggie’s Plan.”
It’s about a young woman whose desire for a baby leads her to marry in haste and who then attempts to give her husband back to his ex-wife.
Greta Gerwig plays the young woman, a Quaker from Wisconsin in ribbed winter tights, calico blouses buttoned to the neck and sensible shoes.
She is smart and has an offbeat charm that captures the attention of a pretentious academic and author played by Ethan Hawke, married to a ferocious woman, played by Julianne Moore, inexplicably chaneling the Teutonic Maude from “The Big Lebowski.”
When Hawke feels neglected by her he defaults to Gerwig who ends up caring for her daughter with him and for his kids from the marriage to Moore. But he is the neediest child of all.
The Coens might have turned what happens next into a screwball murder mystery. But Miller opts for a modern relationship story full of complications and in which everyone ends up friends. The Coen’s version might have been more fun, but Miller – that she Arthur Miller’s daughter will always be part of her boilerplate – creates a charming indie-frosted thingy.
Hawke’s needy author and Moore’s easy caricature are right on the money. Acerbic supporting characters played by Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph, rub salt in everyone’s wounds, including their own.
And indie scene veteran Gerwig has the pleasant expertise of a graduate of the New York school of light relationship comedy.
It’s fun to watch all of them at work. Miller included.
*** Three stars
With Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Wallace Shawn, Mina Sundwall. Produced by Damon Cardasis, Rachel Horowitz, Rebecca Miller; Written and directed by Rebecca Miller. Rated R; Sexuality. Approximate running time: 98 minutes.
Tags: Bill Hader, Gerwig, Hawke, Lebowski, Maya Rudolph, Moore, Rebecca Miller Posted by