What’s this then? Say When is the new romcom starring Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. Knightley plays Megan, the once-popular girl turned bum who’s slowly realising her life hasn’t actually amounted to all that much in the past 10 years since leaving high school.
Uh-oh, sounds like Megan’s a bit of a hot mess. She’s the definition of a hot mess. In fact, anyone who reserves a special kind of anxiety for engagement/pregnancy/promotion updates in their Facebook news feed because they’re still forgetting to put the bins out (same day every week, people) could probably get on board with Knightley in this. No traces of that motorbike-riding sass-pot doused in Coco Mademoiselle.
Where does Chloë Grace Moretz come in? After Megan’s boyfriend proposes, she freaks out and pretends to go on a self-improvement course. Instead she hides at the house of her new 16 year-old friend Annika’s (Moretz) house – it’s here she meets Annika’s divorced and really rather dishy dad, Craig (Rockwell).
Sounds good. What else do we NTK? Well, the director is Lynn Shelton who usually makes films with lots of improvisation, like Your Sister’s Sister and Humpday (she’s also written for Mad Men and New Girl).
So this is no conventional romcom, then? It is *sort *of predictable, which is a shame because it probably could have been the kind of film that some women in their late twenties have been waiting for. It's along the same thread as Girls but without quite the same gritty realism. Odd because all the performances are great – Moretz completely holds her own against Knightley and Rockwell, once again proving how much cooler she is at 17 then any of us were, and Knightley strikes a good balance between fragile and funny – look out for a scene between her and a turtle, it’s a no pout zone and she’s fab.
What are other people saying? 'Knightley navigates this laidback film with smarts and sensitivity, making a real woman out of Megan instead of merely a representative of the film’s themes. Who knew that Keira Knightley could trade all that pretty period decor for simple suburbia and find such lo-fi affability?' - Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair.
What are we saying? It will make you laugh, but the fact Megan’s problems are all miraculously solved by a man about 15 years older than her, who she’s only known a week, is pretty deflating (we’d have warned you about that spoiler, but two minutes into their first scene together and you know). Saying that, if you’re prepared for the cheesy carpe diem lines and have had the kind of day that’s made you want to eat your weight in smuggled-in toffee popcorn, don’t hesitate to pick Say When at the cinema this week.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.