Knightley worth look in cheery ‘Laggies’

Lynn Shelton’s made-in-Seattle comedy “Laggies” takes on a rare topic in the movies: a young woman suffering from arrested development; in other words, a woman-child.

Twenty-eight-year-old Megan (Keira Knightley) is stuck in a rut: Despite having a graduate degree, she works as a sign twirler (an occupation that I didn’t realize had a name) for her father’s accounting business, lives with her longtime boyfriend Anthony (Mark Webber), hangs out with her high-school pals and freaks out when Anthony surprises her with a proposal.

Literally fleeing the scene, she bumps into 16-year-old Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) – and, before you can say “I know, riiight?,” Megan’s sleeping over at Annika’s house, hanging with Annika’s teenage friends and locking eyes with Annika’s charming single dad (Sam Rockwell).

If “Laggies,” charming but slight, feels like a bit of a step back from the likes of “Your Sister’s Sister” (my favorite of Shelton’s works), the problem seems traced to the screenplay. This is the first of Shelton’s films that she didn’t write herself, and Andrea Seigel’s “Laggies” script is lighthearted but formulaic. The characters’ behavior doesn’t always feel believable – though we can see why Megan’s drawn to Annika, however far-fetched, the reverse is less clear – and the ultimate impression is that of a well-crafted piece of disposable entertainment, rather than the slice-of-life realism Shelton’s been mastering.

Nonetheless, Shelton does her usual stellar work with actors. In particular, Knightley – so often beautiful but brittle on screen – is delightfully loose here; in one scene, she flops onto a couch in her parents’ home like a rag doll, as if it’s a maneuver she’s perfected over years of indolence. And the Seattle-area locations (note two fanciful party scenes at the Chihuly Glasshouse and the Skansonia ferry) sparkle like stars. “Laggies” feels like an enjoyable break, both for Megan and for Shelton – but I’m hoping the latter takes on something more substantial next time.