Release Date: August 30th, 2013 (Limited)
Currently playing on VOD platforms
Director: Liz W. Garcia
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 4/10
The Lifeguard is an unfortunate by the numbers indie that seems to purposely go down the checklist in order to create a mediocre tale of a young woman in a quarter life crisis. It features indie rock songs that were big several years ago, it presents some taboo sexual themes, and it covers a lot of emotional ground that most will see as first world problems.
The catalyst for all the drama is Kristen Bell as Leigh, a 29-year-old journalist who, unhappy in her big city life, moves back to her small Connecticut town. She gets a job as lifeguard, and reunites with two of her childhood friends Mel and Todd, played by Mamie Gunner and Martin Starr.
As she deals with her existential crisis, she and her friends begin to hang out with a group of adolescent boys who are dealing with their own issues that plague many youths of that age. The more time she spends at home it seems like she stirs up a whirlwind of conflict that affects everyone in her path, which balloons to astronomical proportions.
This is where the film becomes slightly hard to swallow. The problems these people are having seem so insignificant, yet everyone is reacting so harshly to everything around them it feels ridiculous. We see the turmoil, but none of it feels earned.
To make matters worse, the film periodically jumps from Leigh’s story to her friend Mel’s, as she enters a crisis of her own. This random subplot revolves around Mel and her husband trying to get pregnant and the stress over it not working. It was completely unnecessary to spend this much time with these characters, since there were no other cutaways or time given to any of the other major players in the film.
Everything in The Lifeguard feels like a retread of something we’ve seen before. Teens feeling lost and trapped in their surroundings, late twenty-somethings evaluating their lives, it’s all been done before, and better. That isn’t to say films with these themes are off limits, but there should at least be an attempt to bring something new to the table.
The performances were definitely the film’s strong suit, and gave Kristen Bell and Martin Starr a chance to break out of their normally straight comedic roles. While everyone was adequate, Bell was the obvious standout, showing much more range and depth than previous roles. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a more cohesive and interesting narrative for her to work within.
Many indie films of late follow the same kind of structure, visual style, and plot. The Lifeguard is one of the more egregious culprits in following this pattern. Think of it like Garden State, but devoid of any genuine emotion or originality.
