The world of academia is given a light skewering in the
charming “Maggie’s Plan,” a screwball-ish romantic
comedy from writer-director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur
Miller). Revolving around a love triangle between self-involved, intellectual
Brooklynites, the film calls to mind the works of Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach.
Maggie
(Greta Gerwig) wants to be a mother. Tired of waiting
around for things to happen on their own, she opts for insemination, choosing
Guy (Travis Fimmel) — an artisanal small-batch pickle
magnate — as a donor. Naturally, the second she goes through with her plan, she
ends up falling for John (Ethan Hawke), “one of the bad boys of ficto-critical anthropology.” John also happens to be
married to the imposingly brilliant Georgette (Julianne Moore, sporting a thick
Danish accent). Offering notes on John’s perpetually unfinished novel, Maggie
grows smitten, and the feeling is more than mutual.
The story
jumps ahead three years to find the couple now married with a young daughter.
Their love has dimmed over the interceding years, and Maggie’s starting to
wonder if there might not be a way to return John to where she found him, no
harm done.
An appealing
mix of sweet and sour, “Maggie’s Plan” gets better as it goes on after Miller
has finished with the heavy lifting of introducing these characters — including
Maggie’s best friends, played by the always welcome Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph
— and their world. Once they start bouncing off one another, we’re reminded
that as booksmart as some may be, we’re all a bit
stupid in the ways of love.
This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2016.
