I think if you told someone that Saoirse Ronan (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Lovely Bones), the actress who won audiences over with her innocent portrayal of a conflicted young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s New York City in 2015’s fabulous Brooklyn (which earned her a Best Actress Nomination) is the same person playing the lead role two years later in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, they’d look at you funny before looking at pictures of her from both movies, recalling scenes from each, and then of nodding their heads and saying, “Yeah, I guess that is the same actress.” While a movie I didn’t resonate with and was definitely near the bottom of the Best Picture nominees in the lackluster 2017, I did appreciate her performance. It was just as honest and genuine as the one she gave in Brooklyn. Similarly to 2015, her work in this movie is likely the third or fourth-best of the year and landed Ronan her second Academy Award nomination.

Lady Bird is the name that 17-year-old Christine McPherson (Ronan) gives herself. She’s a senior at a Catholic school. The first of the movie shows her and her mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf – Leaving Las Vegas, Uncle Buck), returning from a road trip to visit colleges in nearby Sacramento, California. Little does Marion know that Lady Bird (who I will call Christine for the remainder of this review to differentiate it from the title) has plans to get as far away from home as possible. The movie follows Christine from this road trip up to her first couple of days at college; it’s clear that she’s going through an identity crisis. Or maybe she’s just going through experiences that all 17-year-olds experience in some fashion. Sure, she’s a bit more eccentric than many of her peers, but we all have our own coming-of-age story at some point. This is Christine’s heartfelt, pleasant, and painful transition from adolescence to adulthood.

There aren’t many directors out there who earn Academy Award nominations in their debuts, but Gerwig packs so many heartfelt emotions into a story that we’ve seen dozens of times in film, but one that still feels original and genuine as she portrays to us a snapshot of the vulnerability, fervor, humiliation, and real-life lessons of being a high school senior. I appreciate what Gerwig set out to do in this movie and the actors who gave life to its characters that fulfilled her vision. At the same time, this movie is something only some will love despite its 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, I was one of those people that did not love it.

A lot happens quickly in this movie. At the same time, it doesn’t feel rushed. The timeframe is 2002. The film is supposed to be a semi-biographical story of Gerwig’s life. We know that her relationship with her mother is terse. The two are more alike than Christine is willing to admit, and the two clash quite frequently. Christine doesn’t have the best grades in the world. And her dreams of getting into a prestigious school on the east coast are a bit of a reach. This is coupled with the fact that her family has not saved a lot of money. Her father, Larry (Tracy Letts – The Post, Christine), has recently lost his job, forcing Marion to work double shifts. Christine’s relationship with her father is much more loving than that with her mother. But what is never in question is how much her parents love her.

Like many high school seniors, Christine has ups and downs with her social relationships. Her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein – Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) is with her through thick and thin. But, like so many, she starts hanging out with a new friend who isn’t necessarily the best for her, which strains her friendship with Julie. Christine also has romantic relationships with a couple of boys throughout the movie in the form of Danny (Lucas Hedges – Honey Boy, Manchester by the Sea) and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, Beautiful Boy).

Like many young relationships, there is often more than meets the eye with these two men. I won’t say anything other than we are all shaped by the experiences in our lives, both good and bad. Sometimes, these experiences we can brush off, and sometimes, these experiences stay with us for the remainder of our lives. We are certainly more impressionable at specific parts of our lives, and I think being a 17-year-old is one of those times when we feel so insecure and frightened by our future that we want things to go in our favor. We want the truths that we believe to be truths actually to be truths. And, when some of these are not, we are forced to adapt. This can harden us, make us more protective of our feelings, or make us less trusting. We all go through it. So it’s great when we have those rocks in our lives. In the case of Christine, it is Julie.

But Christine isn’t a person searching for the mundane. Like many dreamers, she’s searching for something more. She’s wondering if her past work habits will hamper her ability to explore the future she wants to live. If nothing else, could it delay it? Christine is not in a state of crisis. She knows she’s going to school. She’s not entirely independent. It’s a coming-of-age story with some twists that I appreciate. However, I wasn’t a fan of its quirkiness, and it wasn’t a movie that stuck with me when I left the theaters.

Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 8.5/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 7.5/10
Sound 7.5/10
Hook and Reel 7.5/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
77%

C

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