Review of Maggie's Plan (2016) by Alan W — 17 Jul 2016

Maggie's Plan is a delightful throwback New York City based Rom-com that wouldn't seem out of place amongst the filmography of directors such as Woody Allen or (a less shallow) Noah Baumbach. While it's jokes aren't laugh-a-minute and outrageous, the humour of the film instead comes from its characters and believable nature of the "screwball" events that take place.

Particular set pieces like when Maggie and John have their night in Chinatown as well as John and Georgette singing, drinking and dancing the night away to an acoustic rendition of "Dancing In The Dark" are not only heartwarming and a joy to witness they also feel genuine and palpable.

This is helped in abundance thanks to the tremendous cast Rebecca Miller rallied to her cause. Greta Gerwig's central performance is endearing and homely, Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore are tremendous as ever while Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph help ground what otherwise could have been a erudite snooze fest adding great one liners and a sense of level headedness to the proceedings.

One thing I would say is to avoid the trailer as I personally felt it gives a little too much away concerning structure to the story but nonetheless if you have seen it there is still more to be uncovered.

A film that to me as flown well under the radar even where cinephiles are concerned; Maggies Plan surprised me as much as it entertained me. Fancy a rom-com that doesn't take itself too sappily or seriously? Give it a look!