Covid Movie Night

"Maggie's Plan" is a deft, ironic journey story by Rebecca Miller, daughter of Arthur Miller.

Maggie, our star, would like to have a child on her own. She falls in love with Ethan Hawke, who seems to be in the dying stages of a marriage to Julianne Moore. The single-mom plan evaporates. Maggie finds herself married to Ethan Hawke. All is well!

But this is just the end of Act One. Years into the marriage, Maggie discovers she is still unmoored. Ethan Hawke may be *technically* divorced from Julianne Moore, but the two still love to gab on the phone about whether Moore should accept various academic appointments in Denmark. (The two are wonderfully self-absorbed academics, and their specialty is "crypto-fictive narratology.")

In one brutal scene, Ethan Hawke has Maggie pick up his--his!--kid from Dalton (it's basically Dalton)....because Ethan has a work call. Later, it emerges that Ethan's work call was canceled, and Ethan spent the hour chatting with Julianne about her "memoir of betrayal," fabulously named "Bring Back the Geisha." Also, Ethan's kid didn't actually have to be picked up; he had faked a leg injury, because he wanted to leave basketball practice and spend more time with Ethan.

Maggie should have more answers, shouldn't she? She has advanced degrees. She isn't twenty years old. As others around her keep noting, she is extremely, extremely capable.

This movie doesn't fully work, but I really feel for Maggie (Greta Gerwig). She isn't exactly young, and she has many opportunities, but she is still somewhat lost. I can relate, particularly in the confusing, monotonous hours of Covid's reign. Also, "Maggie's Plan" has a batshit-crazy Julianne Moore performance, one of the best I know of, and people don't comment on this the way they should.

I remember this movie fondly--and there are worse ways to spend an evening.

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