Scrambled

Scrambled
Starring Leah McKendrick, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino, Laura Ceron
Directed by Lean McKendrick

Being a guy, and also someone who never, ever, ever, ever...ever...wants kids, "Scrambled" is one of those films that didn't necessarily speak to me on any real level. I didn't know much about it going into it, and I was genuinely surprised about how funny and also heartfelt it was. Doing digging afterward I found that Leah McKendrick - who directed, wrote, and starred in the film - based this movie on her real life struggles to freeze her eggs in 2021, which made it all the more personal. She used her own comedic timing that allowed you to let your guard down with laughter before hitting you in the gut with real-life truths that women face: unlike men, when women hit a certain age, their eggs hit an expiration date. While men can father children well into their 70s or 80s, women have a difficult time after 35, which the film graciously and hilariously points out on several occasions, leading to McKendrick's quest to get her eggs frozen before time runs out.

Nellie Robinson (Leah McKendrick) is the perpetual bridesmaid, and she's perfectly fine with it. She doesn't want to get married, doesn't want kids, and doesn't want commitment. She's living what she thinks is her best life, until a friend points out that women of a certain age find it difficult - if not impossible - to get pregnant, and Nellie is at the cusp of that age. Still not wanting children of her own, she decides to freeze her eggs in the hopes of later on unfreezing them if she wants to be a mother. As she progresses through this transformative decision, she rekindles old flames in hopes of finding the one, while dealing with her overbearing father (Clancy Brown) who wants a grandchild, and her older, more successful brother Jesse (Andrew Santino) who makes fun of her every chance he gets. As the time progresses and the shots continue, Nellie's hormones rage out of control as she is forced to see the life she lives, and the "what if's" along the way.


The Good:
Leah McKendrick isn't a household name, but she was a force of nature in this film, probably due to it being a catharsis for her own story. Typically when people are going through existential crisis, they turn to their friends or a shrink - but in McKendrick's case, she turns to the camera. She directs, writes, and stars in her own story, and you can sense the emotional behind-the-scenes turmoil in her performance. While she delivers comedy with perfect deadpan humor, there's a deep hurt that harbors inside her soulful eyes, and as she sees her friends getting married, having babies, and progressing forward, she feels like she's been left behind, and fears that she'll be stuck in this rut forever. That's why she wants her eggs frozen, so she can still find hope for a future, and McKendrick does an exceptional job at lowering our guard before hitting us with emotional depth, such as a moment where she is talking during a miscarriage support group about her own fears and doubts. It'll have you laughing out tears before crying tears of sadness and then back to comedy again.

The story is one that many women can relate to, and as I said before it's obviously not one that I do. Yet taking my own life out of the way, the story is told with precision and a delicate touch while also incorporating humor as a mechanism to drive home the dramatic effect. You feel Nellie's emotions because they're Leah's emotions, and the story helps drive that home with steadfast emotion. It's also funny as anything, especially during her dating montage and how miserably bad it all goes. It's not easy to blend comedy and drama, especially for a new writer and director, but Leah McKendrick gives a solid start.


The Bad:
The film felt a bit padded near the middle and made the ending feel rushed, with the emotions faltering near the end. The family dynamic as well suffers, as both her father and brother - who were both antagonistic toward Nellie's decisions through 90% of the film - suddenly come to accept and love her unconditionally in the end with no real reason why.


The Summary:
Providing a heartfelt story based on her own struggles, Leah McKendrick's "Scrambled" blends humor and heart in a way that'll open you up to the plight of middle-aged women who don't want to be mothers, but know that their time is expiring.


The Score: B+