There are parts of a woman’s life that we do not normally share with one another, let alone admit. The writer, director, and star Leah McKendrick dares to show some of these realities on the big screen. Like for example, when some women face a severe crisis in their life, they tend to do the most self-destructive thing getting bangs that they know will look horrible on them.
One of McKendrick’s greatest secrets is that we all, at one point or another, worry that while we’re struggling, everyone else has already figured things out. Like her character in the movie, Nellie states, “You thought it was a dance party, but it’s one long game of musical chairs.”
Nellie designs jewelry which she sells on Etsy, but spends most of her free time attending weddings and baby showers of friends while feeling that everyone else grabbed the chair of adult life before the music stopped. We first meet Nellie when she’s a bridesmaid, convincing the groomsman she has to escort her to reception to do a ‘Grease’ hand jive to please the guests.
He’s doing the hand jive with her is there a flicker of something there? No, not really. Once the performance is done, his daughter scurries to him so that he can take her to the rest of his family.
Nellie is a great friend who, for her own sanity, tries to be happy for everyone else. She is the one who deals with the excited bride (“Saturday Night Live’s” Ego Nwodim) who has pre-wedding nerves. She takes a soothing yet sympathetic approach, saying nice words and giving her some pills. Ready for the bridesmaid “Charlie’s Angels” photo shoot. Responding to a friend’s query as to whether she has a special someone in her life, she beams “Oh yes, I’m seeing everyone.” She wants to look like she is enjoying life and is quite accomplished.
The friend, it would seem, has given underscored this piece of advice about the urgent need to harvest the eggs before it becomes too difficult to get pregnant in the late thirties. The film ‘Scrambled’ applies to both the scrambled eggs that are portrayed metaphorically in the movie, as well as the prospects that Nellie has towards her life. For a lady like Nellie who is rapidly losing grasp over her life, feeling in control over certain aspects of the future can be a comforting notion. She has to find $8000 and go through some painful procedures, but she is determined to do it.
McKendrick, as a screenwriter, has some clever dialogue. One of the best lines of the film comes from Nellie, who states, ”I don’t even know if I want kids! I’ve seen ‘Euphoria’!” Those men who are not good material for long-term relationships are dubbed “the bartender with an app idea.” Her biological clock in the film is described in words “Being a woman is like being an avocado. You are ripe for a nanosecond then you are brown, geriatric gook.” Apart from this, it appears to me that the social perception and interaction is much more complicated than what appears.
As Nellie’s friends immerse themselves in telling significant life events like marriage, giving birth, and attending parties, their focus shifts so much that they patronize her by saying, “There’s someone out there for you,” and “As soon as you stop looking, you’ll find someone.” Why can’t people that screw deeply into someone’s personal life understand that those phrases are more insulting than reassuring? There is doubt that any gynaecologist would prank a patient by claiming she was pregnant but this interaction, like others, is exaggerated to illustrate how Nellie feels more than what actually transpired.
Personally, McKendrick is not the most capable performer but her foundation in Pacing is evident. She understands the skeleton of a film’s story happening to tell until she rushes near the film’s completion. The mixed approaches of some relatives are so jarring that it makes them devoid of the relief that was seemingly intended. These family slices are arguably the most lacklustre and the film’s parts, though it does feature the appealing Clancy Brown as Nellie’s father. Instead, this sequence of Nellie’s meetings with ex-husbands moves the story alongside the cycle of infertility. Nellie’s universe appears disordered, but the director does have a clear standpoint and a way out and brings us along.
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