Written by: Greta Gerwig
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A teenager navigates a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother over the course of an eventful and poignant senior year of high school.
Verdict
It's a well made teen coming of age story, definitely one of the better ones, but it's still a teen coming of age movie. It's got great character development while encapsulating the awkwardness of high school. It's heartfelt and humorous, and if you've ever tried to fit in, it's going to strike a chord. There's a lot of material between the lines, not in what characters say but in how they act and how that can be interpreted.
Watch it.
Review
The very first scene is Christine, now dubbing herself Lady Bird bickering with her mom. I get that, but when she jumps out of a moving car, I wondered if this was a different movie that what I expected. I imagine her injuries would be worse than just a broken wrist. She would have gotten road rash, but after this scene the movie no longer stretched my disbelief.
This hits a lot of the teen tropes in the first half hour, but it's also more grounded and real compared to the typical movies that explore this topic. Lady Bird is at that age where she's not independent, wants to be, and thinks she can be. The way she acts out proves she's not mature enough, but that's what happens at that age. We see her ups and downs from crushes to squabbles with her best friend. It captures the awkwardness so well. From her taking a joke too far to seem cool only to back track and try to save face to laughing at something her boyfriend Kyle says only to realize he isn't joking as she trie her best to fit in. Her pursuit is to "be cool" instead of being herself. There's only a few ways that can go.
Kyle is an interesting counterpoint to Lady Bird. Instead of trying to fit in to be cool, he makes a point to reject the establishment and thus he seems cool. Lady Bird humors him because she likes him before finally realizing it's a facade. It's not an act, as he thinks he believes these things. It's how he copes with being teenager. It's not different than when Lady Bird ditches her best friend to hang out with the cool kid. She thinks she wants that. The movie looks at fitting in or upping social standing, and it's one of the best at accurately depicting it.
The funniest moment is the JV football coach that takes over the drama club. While we don't see much of him, he treats drama club like he would a football team.
A parent-teen relationship is tough. Lady Bird's mom believe in tough love. She doesn't come out and say it, but we see it in her actions. Sometimes her mom is a bit too tough, but raising a kid is difficult.
At one point in an argument Lady Bird asks her mother how much it cost to raise her as she wants to pay back that money so she never has to see her mom again. Her mom tells her she doubts she'll ever get a job that will afford her that luxury. Harsh.
Later in the movie Lady Bird asks her mom, "Do you like me." The mom replies, "Of course I love you." When Lady Bird presses her, her mother responds that she wants Lady Bird to be her "best self." You just want the mom to give in. She's trying to prepare Lady Bird for the real world, that or maybe she's just not good with emotions. It's a tough scene. Even at the end the mom chooses to not share her feelings with Lady Bird. It's contributes to the distant relationship we've seen throughout the movie.
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