'Scrambled' Review: Leah McKendrick Makes Grand Debut With Millennial Fertility Coming-of-Age Comedy
We've finally hit the period where creative millennial filmmakers are sharing their coming-of-age stories about tribulations in their 30s in a courageous and comedic fashion. Usually, that’s saved for television (Fleabag and Insecure), but it's pretty bro-ey in the film landscape. I'm looking at you, Apatow. Scrambled, writer/director/star Leah McKendrick’s debut, fearlessly shares her experience freezing her eggs and frames it in a familiar yet enjoyable portrait.
R: Sexual content, nudity, language throughout and some drug use.
Runtime: 1 Hours and 37 Minutes
Production Companies: Megamix, BondIt Media Capital
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Leah McKendrick
Writer: Leah McKendrick
Cast: Leah McKendrick, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino, Adam Rodriguez, Laura Cerón, Clancy Brown
Release Date: February 2, 2024
Exclusively In Theaters
Surrounded by friends who either have a ring on it or are starting families, LA-based 34-year-old Etsy seller Nellie (Leah McKendrick) finds herself without any career or love prospects. She's fine hooking up with bartenders and getting glammed up for a night out. But the strain of loneliness coupled with her friends and family's condescending attitude towards her single status has Nellie feeling aimless. During a doctor's appointment, Nellie decides to freeze her eggs when she learns her ovary egg production is slowing down. During her journey, she searches for old flames in her contacts to see if Mr. Right has escaped.
With its female reproduction as the premise, Scrambled follows the familiar path of many coming-of-age tales about a woman who doesn't have her life together. However, Nellie's character helps Scrambled feel fresh. Despite what its oddly-cut trailer suggests, Nellie isn’t a one-note party girl as messy as her ex-boyfriends. She has a strong morality and maturity that rounds out her often hilarious wittiness. Nellie is a millennial to a tee, in the same vein as every 2010s-era Comedy Central protagonist was. Luckily for Scrambled, that era shaped my sense of humor, so it's no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed McKendrick's funny portrait of Nellie.
McKendrick's tale clocked me during my current existential crisis, seeing many of my peers and friends from different walks of life either getting married or settling down. And like Nellie, the love prospects are very minimal. I never understood how universal that loneliness was until now, as McKendrick utilizes it as the primary motive for Nellie to pursue her cryopreservation journey. Her slice-of-life framing emphasizes the sheer pain of loneliness and self-doubt when you see the societal standards of adulthood expectations.
Apart from her writing strengths, Scrambled is a remarkable showcase for McKendrick, who provides a raw yet hilarious breakthrough performance. Her timing is immaculate as she shares distinguishable chemistry with her supporting co-stars. McKendrick's free-spirited sisterly chemistry with SNL's Ego Nwodim (who plays Sheila) as longtime best friends spurred heavy laughs, as did her dynamic with Andrew Santino.
Structurally, Scrambled is hard-boiled. The narrative plays more episodic than it does as a fluid story. Nellie's determination to hit up her exes for a second shot at love is only forty minutes into the film, and that entire scenario feels aimless. It plays as McKendrick's depiction of toxic LA men variants, which (ha) she's right about, though it rapidly loses steam.
The narrative plays into the confines of its familiar coming-of-age indie movie archetype and relishes the tropes it follows. Those involve distracting pop music cues, the plentiful "family that doesn't understand" dinner scenes and the unsettling low-point beat to the dance party finale.
Scrambled may have a hard shell at times. Yet, this millennial portrait of female singledom is a funny and entertaining tale that effectively showcases Leah McKendrick's talents.
Rating: 3.5/5 | 71%
