Maggie's Plan

Writer-director Rebecca Miller was obviously trying to make a screwball romantic comedy, but Maggie's Plan, while tartly erudite, also turns out to be overly tepid. Realizing that her biological clock is ticking, ditsy self-absorbed Maggie Hardin (Greta Gerwig) requests sperm for artificial insemination from Guy (Travis Fimmel), her husky, brainy, former college classmate who's starting a pickle business in Brooklyn. At the same time, she also falls for John Harding (Ethan Hawke), a shaggy college professor/wannabe novelist. Harding is unhappily married to dour, intimidating Danish anthropologist Georgette (Julianne Moore), and they have a couple of young children. Discarding Mr. Pickle, Maggie discovers that she's pregnant, so John leaves Georgette, and marries Maggie. But after a few years, Maggie realizes that she doesn't love John and that he was better off with Georgette. Hence, the plan (which shall go unexplained here). Showing the decidedly un-glamorous lives of Manhattan intellectuals, Miller—the idiosyncratic daughter of playwright Arthur Miller—dwells on pretentious details while acerbically rambling on about arcane academia, using Maggie's best friends (Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph) as a Greek chorus. An optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Rebecca Miller, a “Controlling Fate” making-of featurette (16 min.), a Sundance Film Festival Q&A (12 min.), outtakes (8 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)