by Monica Hayes
Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut of a coming of age comedy of a rebellious teen looking to get and start her life somewhere other than Sacramento California is entertaining to watch.
Christine “Lady Bird” (Saoirse Ronan) is a rebellious teenager looking forward to the end of her senior year at an all-girls Catholic school. Once she’s done, she is on the first thing smoking, and off to any college that is NOT in Sacramento.
She has her sights set on NYC. The only potential issue, her overbearing, pain in the butt, pit bull of a mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf). Bored with her current situation at school and wanting to be one of the cool kids, Lady Bird tries out for the school play put on by the brother Catholic school. While she didn’t land the leading role, she does land a new Boo. But things are not what she thought they would be and while it doesn’t end well. Still seeking acceptance, she hooks up with the rich kids at school and tries to fit in with them. She finds a new Boo in Kyle (Timothée Chalamet), but turns out, he is not all that either.
After a couple of pit falls, dumping her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) so she can fit in with the rich kids, and lots of shenanigans, to include decorating the car of one of the nuns in school, Lady Bird sees the error of her ways.
Lady Bird is the directorial debut of Greta Gerwig, who by the way, also wrote the script. From the opening scene, to the end credits, she keeps you intrigued and engaged with Lady Bird’s adventures. The plot is something every female has gone through at some point with their mom.
Most have been watching Saoirse Ronan grow as an actress since 2007. She didn’t catch this writer’s eye until she played the perfect assassin in Hanna, then again in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Watching her in Lady Bird was a joy as she effortlessly plays the rebellious .I look forward to seeing her to continue to develop in future movies.
We haven’t seen Laurie Metcalf since her stint on Rosanne, and her most reoccurring role on The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon’s mom, her onscreen performance as Lady’s overprotective, condescending, more often than not, asshole, but caring mom is superb. Metcalf is spot on. I’m sure, we as women can relate to when we were young and butted heads with our moms. Seems like yesterday for me – hell, sometimes I still butt heads with my mom. We all wanted to spread our wings and fly, but mom was always there to keep you grounded whether we wanted her to or not.
Overall, Lady Bird is funny and exciting to watch. You will laugh, cry and almost fall out of your chair with the craziness in this movie. Kudos Greta! Excellent job and I look forward to seeing more movies you direct.
Grade A