Word: loing
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Amanda (Scarlett Johansson) and Laurel (Aleksa Palladino), according to convention hereafter referred to as "Manny" and "Lo," survive through shoplifting, house-breaking-and-sleeping-in, and the liberal use of their deceased mother's station wagon. When Lo gets undeniably pregnant, the spunky pair adds a bigger crime to their misdemeanors and kidnap a staid ex-nurse (Mary Kay Place) incongruously behind the counter at one of those sickeningly precious baby supplies stores. They then hole up at an abandoned country house. Barring some frenzied running around at the end, most of the film takes place there amidst woodsy surroundings...
...about 10 minutes, the movie trundles along just fine, recovering with a shot of the two kids waking up on a suburbian lawn they mistook for a park. The automatic morning routine of the two young women is particularly touching: Manny trying to provide Lo with some privacy by shielding...
Then the movie hits what's probably its high point, with a fine poetic juxtaposition. One day Manny refuses to play turbulent airplane to Lo's stewardess (Lo stands and balances on her, fidgeting) because she secretly fears for Lo's increasingly visible pregnancy. So in one swoop, Krueger has portrayed well the jarring, forced switch from pretend to inevitable real life...
...asks broadly perceptive questions worthy of a Barbara Walters interview: studying Elaine's determinedly clinical, uneasy manner, Manny declares that she doesn't think Elaine had a real family, did she. She's right, and it's a gold star for her to add to her accomplishments in admonishing Lo for her poor prepartem behavior or justly defending Elaine...
...comparison, Lo comes across as unreasonably paranoid: throwing Elaine aside and cursing like a sailor. She isn't helped by having to toss off artificial-sounding lines about remembering who's in charge with regard to the kidnaping. And it is Lo who moves the plot along, where Manny would be content with looking at lizards...