The Lifeguard

This is an indie film starring Kristen Bell. Its a complicated film, and yet not. Bell's character Leigh has a great job in journalism in New York City, but at 29 its not a job she thought it would be. While she was in high school, she was focused and knew what she wanted, but now..she's not so sure after writing a story about a caged tiger who died in captivity of someone's apartment. So she goes back home to the job she loved in summers past. That's where LIFEGUARD comes in.

I do have mixed feelings about the movie. Still, I thought Liz Garcia did an amazing job with her storytelling and directing of actors Mamie Gummer and Martin Starr who play Leigh's closest friends from high school. But there is a touchy subject too.

Little Jason is played by THE FOSTER'S David Lambert who hangs out at the pool. He goes by Little Jason only there is nothing little about him. His Dad Jason works as a grounds keeper at the country club where Leigh lifeguards.

At first, you know Leigh has her priorities straight as the movie begins. She scolds little kids who won't listen to her. And she's sensitive about that. There only seem to be Little Jason who really listens. Somehow slowly, her friends start hanging out with Little Jason's friends. Her best girlfriend (Mamie Gummer) Mel is a principal at the school and she is at a point in her life where she and her husband want to have a baby. So there are some things Mel can not partake of.

This is a movie that is a bit slow, but we see characters grow. And the developing relationship between Leigh and Little Jason. He's 16 and she's almost 30. And as cringe worthy as that might seem, there is something about the reality of someone who didn't have 'that moment' in high school like everyone else. Not that I'm trying to make the situation creditable, but still this sort of reality is more common than we want to even think about.

While it might be more acceptable in Europe, it does have consequences here. Still, I'm not sure if enough consequences really happened in the film that should have happened.

In spite of the bad thing that does happen, it doesn't happen to Leigh and Little Jason. And even the end is rather tidy. And it would have been interesting to give us more about Martin Starr's Todd who is still in the closet.

STORYLINE: A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.

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