Say When is called charmingly Laggies in the USA. According to the Urban Dictionary Laggies means either a disease caused by chronic masturbation or something that’s slow and takes forever to work. Megan (Keira Knightly, The Imitation Game, Begin Again) is the latter of these definitions, an aimless 20 something breezing through life doing very little. She feels trapped in her current existence and stifled by her friends group and fiancé (Mark Webber; Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Save The Date) who she has known since high school. She has never really found her feet with her career and her puppydog father (played excellently by Jeff Garlin; Curb Your Enthusiasm) lets her get away with this, by giving her part-time work at the law office he works as a sign holder. (Why is it in films that sign holders are happy go lucky middleclass twenty somethings?)
After escaping friend Allison’s (Ellie Kemper: The Office, 21 Jump Street) wedding to buy rose petals she meets a group of teenagers and quickly bonds with Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz; Kick Ass), and instead of returning to the wedding enjoys hanging out, skateboarding and getting drunk with Annika and her friends. Megan then decides to have a bit of time out by saying she’s going to a personal development retreat for a week. But then a snap decision later ends up living with Annika and her father Craig (Sam Rockwell; A Case of You, Trust Me) for the duration. But what will happen, and will her fiancé find out?
Keira Knightly does a good job in the film at not being Keira Knightly and uses the spunk we saw in Bend it Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean to pull off the role well. Mark Webber is great at playing the nice but slightly clueless, spirit animal obsessed fiancée Anthony. Ellie Kemper is fantastic as the unlikable Allison and is the comic relief of the film in a hilarious wedding dance scene and in her defence of a Buddha statue. Sam Rockwell was commendable, however the relationship between Megan and Craig wasn’t a plotline that held much interest to me.
This is the first screenplay by novelist Andrea Seigel, who did wonders with writing some hilarious dialogue, I look forward to seeing what she does next. Though an unlikely scenario, through hanging with Annika and her friends, Megan is able look at her life and the path her life has taken her since high school. These themes of nostalgia, teenage life and how that shapes our adulthood are what make the film interesting.
With casting Keira Knightly in this film, this is likely director Lynn Shelton’s (My Sister’s Sister, Touchy Feely) attempt at making a more commercially successful version of her previous collection of independent comedy dramas. As someone who’s made it a mission to watch a lot of these quarter life crisis comedy films, Say When stands up well amongst the best of the genre. However, I found the film insinuated a rather formulaic and predictable ending, which let it down for me. It felt like this was a way to wrap the story up for an audience maybe more used to watching rom-coms and used to “happy endings”. However to me it seemed that the character had been through so much through the duration of the movie, that to wrap the story up like they did was selling it short and rather unrealistic.
That being said, this is a commendable indie drama-comedy, starring Keira Knightly in a rather unexpected role with an excellent supporting role from Ellie Kemper. Though a bit silly and fluffy at times the film is unexpectedly delightful.
Alice Hubley
Genre:Drama, Comedy Distributor:Icon Film Distribution Release Date: 7th November 2014 Rating: 15 Director:Lynn Shelton Cast:Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Mark Webber, Ellie Kemper
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