Scrambled
Leah McKendrick is the director, screenwriter, and star of a disturbing and often unpleasant biopic disguised as a 2023 black comedy called Scrambled that does provide the occasional giggle but is hard to engage in due to a central character this reviewer found difficult to invest in.
McKendrick plays Nellie, a 34 year old single gal who broke up with her soulmate, Shawn, a year ago because he wanted kids and she didn't. Nellie has now moved back in with her parents and feels spinsterhood knocking on her door and even though she sure she's still not ready to have children, she has decided that she wants to have her eggs frozen, a process that motivates her to look at her past and the mistakes she has made with men.
It's obvious early on that McKendrick is documenting her own experience with freezing eggs, a cinematic subject new to this reviewer. Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the film are spent putting Nellie's promiscuous lifestyle and her horrible choices in men under a microscope. McKendrick's odyssey of self-discovery initially seems to be blaming everyone else for the emptiness of her life, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that this is not the case as she arranges actual reunions with men from her past and some are still wearing scars from their time with Nellie and she isn't feeling a lot of remorse about it either.
A look at inside Nellie's family reveals that they aren't exactly the Bradys. The relationship between Nellie and her brother is toxic but doesn't stop her from asking him for the money for the procedure and her father can't even wrap his head around the fact that Nellie broke up with Shawn, much less that she is lazy and useless and will never change. Then if that wasn't enough, we are then subject to Nellie deciding that she has to see Shawn and his new pregnant girlfriend. Maybe other viewers will feel differently, but I never felt the sympathy for Nellie that I was supposed to. Maybe that's also because I wasn't convinced that she would make a great mother.
McKendrick does show some skill as an actress and screenwriter, but her direction is suited to make sure that the rest of the cast stays out of her way and it works on that level, though Clancy Brown, June Diane Raphael, Adam Rodriguez, Andrew Santino, Brett Dier, and SNL's Ego Nwodim do make the most of their screentime, but I had a hard time staying with this one, and the fact that it felt four hours long didn't help.
Leah McKendrick is the director, screenwriter, and star of a disturbing and often unpleasant biopic disguised as a 2023 black comedy called Scrambled that does provide the occasional giggle but is hard to engage in due to a central character this reviewer found difficult to invest in.
McKendrick plays Nellie, a 34 year old single gal who broke up with her soulmate, Shawn, a year ago because he wanted kids and she didn't. Nellie has now moved back in with her parents and feels spinsterhood knocking on her door and even though she sure she's still not ready to have children, she has decided that she wants to have her eggs frozen, a process that motivates her to look at her past and the mistakes she has made with men.
It's obvious early on that McKendrick is documenting her own experience with freezing eggs, a cinematic subject new to this reviewer. Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the film are spent putting Nellie's promiscuous lifestyle and her horrible choices in men under a microscope. McKendrick's odyssey of self-discovery initially seems to be blaming everyone else for the emptiness of her life, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that this is not the case as she arranges actual reunions with men from her past and some are still wearing scars from their time with Nellie and she isn't feeling a lot of remorse about it either.
A look at inside Nellie's family reveals that they aren't exactly the Bradys. The relationship between Nellie and her brother is toxic but doesn't stop her from asking him for the money for the procedure and her father can't even wrap his head around the fact that Nellie broke up with Shawn, much less that she is lazy and useless and will never change. Then if that wasn't enough, we are then subject to Nellie deciding that she has to see Shawn and his new pregnant girlfriend. Maybe other viewers will feel differently, but I never felt the sympathy for Nellie that I was supposed to. Maybe that's also because I wasn't convinced that she would make a great mother.
McKendrick does show some skill as an actress and screenwriter, but her direction is suited to make sure that the rest of the cast stays out of her way and it works on that level, though Clancy Brown, June Diane Raphael, Adam Rodriguez, Andrew Santino, Brett Dier, and SNL's Ego Nwodim do make the most of their screentime, but I had a hard time staying with this one, and the fact that it felt four hours long didn't help.
Last edited by Gideon58; 1 week ago at 02:07 PM.