Maggie’s Plan

— I went to see “Maggie’s Plan” partly because I was in search of a comedy but also because most of the cast members keep showing up in interesting, kind of offbeat films. It’s Maggie’s story, a woman about to have a child on her own through artificial insemination when she falls in love with a married writer and adjunct professor whose marriage to another professor may be on the its last legs anyway. A divorce, a marriage, and a child later and Maggie’s no longer sure she’s in love or in a marriage with an equal partner. She and her husband’s ex-wife concoct a plan for him to fall back in love with the woman he divorced. You can see the possibilities, particularly with this quirky cast and some really good writing by writer/director Rebecca Miller. It walks a line that’s occasionally almost, but not quite over the top, and then seems a little too low key at other times, but I couldn’t help but like it. You have to smile as the movie moves along and Greta Gerwig’s Maggie never really seems to have much of a plan, Julianne Moore’s peculiar Scandinavian accent is a riot, and the whole idea of a University professor whose field is “ficto-critical anthropology” is just oddly believable enough so those of us who live in college towns can’t help but quietly groan. It’s a little edgy and oddly reminiscent of both “Saturday Night Live” and Woody Allen. It may not be humor for everyone, but I had a soft smile on my face as the credits rolled.

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[2015. 98 min. Directed by Rebecca Miller. Starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/movies/maggies-plan-review-greta-gerwig.html