Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Maggie's Plan Blu-ray Movie Review

The best laid plans...and so forth.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 12, 2016

Tradition? Toss it out the window. This is 2016. Modern science and contemporary societal norms have all but eliminated the requirement and made it perfectly acceptable, respectively, for a woman to bear a child through means other than traditional birds-and-bees maneuvers. No longer are women like Maggie, who seeks artificial insemination and, later, a nontraditional path out of her marriage, social pariahs, outcasts forced to live lies or hide in shadows. Maggie's Plan, from Writer/Director Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Miller is also the daughter of the acclaimed, late playwright Arthur Miller, best known for his seminal work Death of a Salesman), takes a decidedly modern look at love and life and how the two have become more amorphous in recent years, meaning different things to different people beyond traditional definitions and structures. The film follows an open life, an occasionally confused life, and all of the different emotional stages that are a result of living in the new normal. The picture efforts to blend easy come humor with more pronounced psychological and sociological underpinnings, and largely to good effect.

Planning.

Maggie (Greta Gerwig) wants a baby. But she doesn't want a man. Well, maybe it's not so much that she doesn't want a man, she just doesn't see a man coming into her life, a man who will stick with her, or a man she could stick beside. She's never been in a serious relationship before, and her clock is ticking. Her solution is inject herself with sperm from a donor. She's chosen a former hockey player and current pickle salesman named Guy (Travis Fimmel) to donate. He'd rather do things the old fashioned way, but she's happy to take his sperm and run. Just as she's starting to put all the pieces in place, she happens to meet a ficto-critical anthropologist (sounds like most gibberish titles these days) named John (Ethan Hawke) who is not-so-happily married to a tenured professor at Columbia named Georgette (Julianne Moore). John falls for Maggie, and she him. Her plans change...but can she live happily ever after after all this time thinking she'd spend her life without a man by her side, and he away from the woman he married?

Maggie's Plan captures an unmistakable, sometimes almost desperate, Woody Allen-inspired structure, style, pacing, and charm. It doesn't work as well for Miller as it does for Allen, but this movie is certainly a "spiritual" Allen in every way. Lightly quirky, intimately funny, well-drawn characters, easy-come boundary-pushing motifs, real-world concepts, New York setting: it's all here, cut from a slightly different cloth but unmistakably molded from the master's acclaimed approach to moviemaking and storytelling. Maggie's Plan smartly balances its characters and concepts. It's light on its feet even as it tackles some pretty hard issues, looking modern society straight in the eye and trying to finds its center, all the while maintaining a breeziness that keeps the audience satisfied beyond the film's more deeply, and intimately woven, sociological fabrics. It's creative in both ends of its approach, constructed around characters who may not be so much approachable outside of the circles in which they're depicted as living and existing, but who convey their emotions with an identifiable rhythm and grasp of both their most intimate existential details and the larger world around them alike.

The film's rather well-drawn and explored characters are complimented by a fine ensemble cast. Greta Gerwig shines in the lead. Her character opens the movie stating that it's time for her to "face the truth" about her life and where she is in it. Gerwig's ability to swing with the material, which is, essentially, her own personal life and the mounting internal crises that come from it, is commendable. Equal parts charmingly quirky, seriously reflective, eager to live, and craving life as it should be (or so she believes) for all around her, she follows the character's development and evolution with a magical touch, always finding the perfect delivery and physical compliment to the part. The only downside to the character is more a fault of the script; it can get a little repetitive as the character verbally reinforces her state in life and thought processes a little too often, but Gerwig remains a rock in the part. Her support cast is excellent. The ever-dependable Ethan Hawke is terrific as he flows through what is arguably the most challenging role in the movie, torn between his draw from his wife and towards Maggie and, later, something else entirely. Julianne Moore again excels, accent and all, as "the other woman." Several excellent support performances are scattered throughout; the film features many familiar faces in secondary roles, including Bill Hader, Wallace Shawn, and Maya Rudolph.

Maggie's Plan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Maggie's Plan enjoys a fine, richly film-like 1080p picture. It's a little warm and a mite soft, but there's little room for complaint. Detailing is excellent. Rough city exterior details present with lifelike definition and tactile realism. Attire is superb, particularly heavy-knit winter sweaters and scarfs and hats that can be seen throughout the film. Facial definition is fair, revealing many of the finer details to be found on all of the actors. Colors are just a hair desaturated and warm, but never to any serious, or even more than lightly noticeable, level. Saturation is fine and vibrance is there when brighter colors appear on the screen. A yellow hat seen midway through the movie is probably the single-best color splash in the film. Flesh tones capture that mild warmth. Black levels are fine. No compression artifacts or source issues are readily apparent. This is another first-class new release Blu-ray from Sony.

Maggie's Plan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Maggie's Plan features a very basic nuts-and-bolts dialogue-heavy Romantic Dramedy soundtrack. The presentation offers little beyond the spoken word and music. Light ambience helps better define some city exteriors, a cafeteria, and a few other places where there's opportunity for gentle environmental immersion, but don't expect much in the way of seriously detailed and intensive surround activity. Music is largely gentle, but clearly defined. Spread out to the ends of the stage comes naturally, and very mild back channel envelopment is also present. Dialogue commands the movie. Prioritization is fine (particularly with nothing else of note around, for the most part). Clarity is excellent and placement remains firm in the front center channel.

Maggie's Plan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Maggie's Plan contains several extras, including an audio commentary track. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary: Director Rebecca Miller Begins with an interesting insight into the film's bookend shots and continues to offer a well rounded track that covers all of the basics: technical details of the shoot, editing, anecdotal stories from the shoot, performances, story details and structure, and more. This is a nice complimentary track that serves the film well.
• Controlling Fate: The Making of Maggie's Plan (1080p, 15:52): A catch-all look at the film's contemporary roots, Miller's inspiration for the movie, themes, character development and details, casting, performances, the movie's palette and look, technical details of the shoot, filming in New York, the film's tone, and Miller's work.
• Outtakes (1080p, 7:21): Funny moments from the shoot.
• Q&A at the Sundance Film Festival (1080p, 11:29): Director of Programming Trevor Groth introduces Writer/Director Rebecca Miller and Actress Greta Gerwig pre-screening. Moderator Basil Tsiokos hosts Miller, Actor Travis Fimmel, and Producer Damon Cardasis for post-screening questions.
• Maggie's Plan Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:25).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Maggie's Plan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maggie's Plan looks and feel like Allen, but it can't quite capture that same effortless magic and charm. It's an interesting look at life in the modern big city and how the best laid plans of life and love sometimes work, and sometimes don't. The film features well-written and expertly performed characters along with a commendably solid and simple, but very complimentary, filmmaking approach. Sony's Blu-ray release of Maggie's Plan features high quality video, good lossless audio, and a fair compliment of bonus material. Recommended.