1 star
Nellie Robinson is at a crossroads in her life: Her friends are all getting married or having babies. While that gives her plenty of opportunities to be the life of their bridal and baby showers, it also means the 30-something online jewelry designer has to look in the mirror and decide what she wants to do with her own life.
Single and with no husband or even sperm donor prospects on the horizon, Robinson decides she needs to get her eggs frozen so they’ll be ready when the rest of her life falls magically into place. After spending a half hour or so with Robinson in the movie, you start thinking it will be a long time.
Written, directed, and starring Leah McKendrick, Scrambled is challenging because Robinson is a shrill, one-note character stuck in her party animal past. If you want someone to make a grand entrance at your wedding, you invite her, especially if you don’t care that her behavior could upstage the bride. If you’re looking for more, some reason to make you believe her plan is good, you may want to look elsewhere.
Thankfully, McKendrick’s in-your-face approach to acting runs out of steam after a while, although not before watching her scroll through her ghosts of hookups past trying to find Mister Right. It’s painful to watch. None of the men she meets are exceptionally well-written or well-acted. They’re just targets for Robinson/McKendrick to take cheap shots, none of which do anything towards helping the character learn anything about herself.
There is a last-ditch effort in the movie’s last few minutes to make Robinson more believable, if not likable, as she completes her medical procedure and has her eggs frozen. Her friends and family throw a party, and you’re left to believe everything will work out. But it’s too little too late.
