Pre-'Barbie', Greta Gerwig was best known for her appearances in the films of her partner Noah Baumbach, set in a fictionally-dressed New York where everything is beautiful and cool. It's therefore something of a relief to find her first film as director features ordinary (and ordinary-looking) people, living in an ordinary town. The film's eponymous heroine is just a young woman, trying to negotiate her way through life. It offers a surprisingly nuanced take on a Catholic education; the girl's mother, however, is presented with less subtlety. Gerwig's style is to make the film with lots of short scenes, each one ending as soon as it delivers its point or punchline; this keeps the plot moving at a lively pace, but the movie never seems to dwell with its characters, and the purpose of each moment in the screenplay is always apparent. Whether due to budgetary constraints or aesthetic choice, the film begins and ends, rather bizarrely, with Lady Bird taking a fall which, instead of being shown for dramatic effect, occurs just off camera. Watchable throughout, 'Lady Bird' is not a bad film, but it's a little too direct to be a great one.