A 34-year old Etsy seller, Nellie Robinson (played by Leah McKendrick), has recently broken up with her boyfriend because he was ready to have kids and she wasn’t. Meanwhile, she’s a bridesmaid in multiple weddings and is a constant invite to baby showers, all of which remind her of her recent singleness. After she’s diagnosed with Primary Ovarian Insufficiency, she makes the empowering — and painful (and expensive) — decision to have her eggs frozen. Whenever she’s vulnerable enough to tell somebody her decision, Nellie is met with curiosity and hesitation more often than not. From friends making her feel like she’s less of a woman to her dad constantly criticizing her relationship decisions at the dinner table, she’s looking for someone to understand but all she finds is loneliness. Her best friend Sheila (Ego Nwodim) is her lone bright spot but, when she goes through a miscarriage, even she’s not capable of being there for Nellie. One by one, she tries to reconnect with old boyfriends, each of which remind her why they broke up in the first place but, instead of finding reassurance in that, it makes her feel even more alone.
Written from her own experience with oocyte cryopreservation, McKendrick shines in her directorial debut. From the creative presentation of the story to categorizing each of Nellie’s boyfriends with text-on-screen to striking a perfect balance between heart, comedy and message, McKendrick unabashedly shows off her potential in Scrambled.
The opening scene establishes Sheila and Nellie’s friendship, suggests her perceived happiness in being single and reinforces her anxiety about getting older, all at the same time. From that point on, it’s a hilarious — sometimes awkward — situational comedy about real life aspects of some women’s lives. Freezing ones eggs is an option for a lot of people but it’s rarely talked about in a public light and that only exacerbates Nellie’s psychological state. Essentially, she can’t find a win, only losses, and the audience is further drawn into her pain (both physical and emotional). Without blinking, you’re invested in Nellie and her struggle, all while laughing hysterically.
Scrambled is incredibly vulnerable, enlightening and funny. For a little over an hour and a half, we sympathize with somebody who’s taking control of their life and their future the best they can. The audience wants to reach out and tell Nellie she’s doing the right thing and everything will be okay, a feat very difficult to pull off for experienced comedic screenwriters and directors, let alone new ones.
It certainly may speak to you more if you’re a woman but, make no mistake, you don’t have to be one in order to appreciate this movie. It’d be very easy to make this an unapologetic women’s film that completely alienates men but McKendrick walks the line between relatability and empathy in both her performance and her direction. Put simply, it’s the first great movie of 2024 and I’m a better person for having watched it.
JKG SCORE: 8.0
Untitled Film Project 