Lifeguard

Satisfying Story of Young Adult Indecision
I've got no experience with Veronica Mars, but I can see why people like Kristen Bell. She's real and relatable, as are all of the characters in this film.

At age 29, with her life in the city more disheartening and less complete than she ever expected, Kristen Bell's Leigh heads back home, where her two best friends (Mammie Gummer of The Good Wife and the familiar Martin Starr of Freaks and Geeks and about a million other comedies) are leading lives equally unperfected. During her aimless summer in her home town, she crosses paths with the local drop-outs, played sensitively and convincingly by a trio of young actors, including recently discovered teen actor Alex Shaffer of the Paul Giamatti film Win, Win, in a supporting role. Youthful indiscretions can't really cohabit with adult responsibilities, and the dramatic tension is ratcheted-up (if also resolved fairly easily) in sincere ways.

Nice production and a convincing story of early middle-age indecision...
A different movie and role for Kristin Bell. Depressing movie but it is very good and I liked it more then I expected. I say B+
"Things happen, keep moving or die." Leigh (Bell) is a reporter working for a paper in New York. After writing an article she is passionate about she quits when it won't get published and ends up moving back home. While she is trying to make sense of her life she gets a job as a lifeguard and reconnects with her parents and her old friends. Leigh learns the meaning of 'you can't go home again'. There is a saying you can't judge a book by its cover, after watching this one it should also be applied to movies. Going off the cover I expected a nice light comedy with Kristin Bell playing her usual character. I got the exact opposite. The movie is a heavy drama with very real issues. After moving home she finds that her friends are not who they once were and neither are her parents. She begins a romance with an underage boy at the place where she works which has repercussions for everyone. This is nothing like I expected but I did really like it much more then I expected. Overall, a...
THE CHAINED TIGER
This is an indie film about life without much plot. Leigh London (Kristen Bell) in an AP reporter who has become depressed with life. She wrote a story about a chained tiger cub living in the city apartment that dies. She sees herself in this role, as well as just about everyone else in the film fits the metaphor. People view themselves as developing while everyone else sees them as screw-ups.

Leigh moves back with her parents, and mom (Amy Madigan) would rather not have her there. She hangs out with old friends; Todd (Martin Starr) a gay art dealer and Mel (Mamie Gummer) who is now the vice principal. Mel's life is in a rut, her husband (Joshua Harto) doesn't fit in because he is too straight. Leigh becomes a lifeguard at the local apartment complex, however like the tiger, the title has a two-fold meaning.

The story slips into taboo areas such as smoking pot with minors...and having sex with them. There are lines that are crossed, i.e. "they are screw-ups" or...
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