Mr. Movie review: ‘Lady Bird’ breathes life into teen-angst genre

‘Lady Bird’

Saoirse Ronan is ‘Lady Bird’. She’s a senior in high school. Lady Bird and her mother — done in a wonderfully tightly wound way by Laurie Metcalf — have a typical mom and daughter relationship. It’s not all out war but close.

They have many conflicts but the film’s focus is on where she should go to college. The girl wants a school as far away as possible from home. An East coast school would be preferable. Mom wants her — more affordably — close to home.

Lady Bird is also stretching into serious love territory for the first time. It’s a typical teen girl experience with results girls everywhere experience.

Ronan (Brooklyn, Grand Budapest Hotel) is a serious young actress with major league skills. She brings it home here and has as much fun with this character as with any other she’s played. Her Lady Bird is bored to tears with school, anxious to get on with her life and even more anxious to be rid of her mom.

Best of all — you believe her.

Metcalf — who has come a long way since TV’s Rosanne — is also very good as her control-freak mom. Their love-hate relationship rings true and is authentic. Metcalf is perfectly loving one second and then a controlling shrew the next.

Lady Bird is written and directed by writer/actress Gretta Gerwig who penned Francis Ha and Mistress America. She’s a great writer as well as an excellent actress best known for arthouse flicks like Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love.

There is a lot to love about this film. Normally the teen-girl/teen-angst genre is predictably sucky with performances from an up and coming cutie. That’s not the case here. This is rich, deep storytelling and definitely worth catching. Lady Bird is a bird of a different teen angst feather is rightfully belongs on the list of the year’s best.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘Lady Bird’ breathes life into teen-angst genre."