Review: 'Scrambled' is a funny, warm look at one woman's effort to freeze her eggs — and a declaration of Leah McKendrick as a talent to watch

The comedy “Scrambled” is an impressive tour de force for its writer, director and star, Leah McKendrick, who brashly and unapologetically tells a funny and warm-hearted story of one woman’s pursuit of her own child-bearing journey.

McKendrick plays Nellie, a Los Angeles jewelry designer and Etsy seller who’s been a bridesmaid and baby-shower guest a good number of times, and is watching most of her women friends procreating. After a conversation with one of them, Monroe (June Diane Raphael), Nellie realizes that, at age 34, her window to have children is closing rapidly. And, with no romantic prospects in her life — she’s a year past a bad breakup with Sean (Harry Shum Jr.) — Nellie decides to have her eggs frozen.

Her family is skeptical of her decision. Her abrasive brother, Jesse (Andrew Santino), reluctantly loans her the money to get the hormone treatments. Her grumpy father (Clancy Brown, the movie’s stealth MVP) thinks it’s all medical nonsense. But her mother (Laura Céron) is supportive, as is her best friend, Sheila (“Saturday Night Live’s” Ego Nwodim), whose wedding — and announcement that she’s pregnant — kicks off the movie.

McKendrick’s script takes Nellie through the painful, and sometimes comical, details of egg harvesting — the hormone shots, the tiny bruises on her midriff, and so on. It also has Nellie revisiting her romantic history, in some cringe-worthy montages of her meeting past dates to see if any of them deserve a second chance.

Amid observations about California baby names and the whole maternal-industrial complex, McKendrick — through her sharp script and charming performance — shows us a woman struggling to keep it together as she goes through one of the hardest, and oddly most rewarding, parts of her life.

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‘Scrambled’

★★★

Opens Friday, February 2, in theaters. Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language throughout and some drug use. Running time: 97 minutes.