Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married - Directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Bill Irwin - Rated R

Too many parts of this film were as pointless as Bruce Banner's Dad's superpowers.




First off, a movie like Rachel Getting Married would usually not be my top review for the week, but the pickings have been getting slim lately. The only DVD release this week that I would consider reviewing was the new Friday the 13th, but I already reviewed that when it came out in theaters. And the main releases in the theater this past weekend were Year One and The Proposal and I didn't have much interest in either of those films. So rather than wait until the new Transformers comes out this coming week, I decided to go with this film since it featured an Oscar-nominated performance from Anne Hathaway and even though I tend to disagree with the Academy, I still feel some sort of obligation to check out the nominations.

Rachel Getting Married is about Kym (Hathaway), a troubled young woman who gets out of rehab for the weekend for her sister's wedding. As you can imagine, the film is one tense family moment after another. At first this annoyed me quite a bit. Watching a family yell and cry every five minutes is pointlessly miserable unless you have an interest in the characters. It's just that my interest wasn't established until an hour or so into the movie. At first, I didn't care why Kym was in rehab or why she felt the need to be so confrontational and demand the attention of everyone at all times. I don't know what it is, but after seeing these characters interact for an extended amount of time, I started to care about what was going on with them.

Don't get me wrong, though. This movie is mediocre at best even when it is slightly interesting. There are far too many useless wedding scenes. I know it has the word 'married' in the title, but that doesn't mean you have to go all Deer Hunter and through in forty-five minutes of footage that advances the story in way at all. This movie is about Kym, despite her sister Rachel's name in the title, but Demme keeps in all this material about the wedding. You get these long, boring scenes of people giving congratulatory speeches to the married couple, but nothing is gained from it aside from establishing an example of what to say for when Kym takes her turn and makes a mess of herself. I suppose you could argue that the longer the set up the bigger the payoff, but it didn't work for me. I just wanted to fast forward to a scene that had something to do with the story.

Usually, a largely pointless and boring movie like this is saved by a nominated performance, but Hathaway's performance, while good, is no match for those long, torturous montages of pointlessness. She does make things a bit easier to watch, though. I liked the whole character gimmick of constantly smoking a cigarette (though it was done better by Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums) and she handles some very heavy emotional scenes realistically. But watching someone cry and break down a lot doesn't make a movie more entertaining to me. So this movie isn't for everybody (it certainly isn't for me), but if you're into watching families have emotional breakdowns and you reall love the goings on of weddings, then give it a try.

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)

****½
USA

Jonathan Demme and Jenny Lumet assemble a dysfunctional-family-sized lunatic orgy of profoundly insulated, self-absorbed people and simmer it into a sober, pulsing, humanist slice of Dogme. Effortlessly they secure your patience and compassion even for several flaky personages you wouldn't hesitate to punch in real life.

In fact, it's downright disorienting that nobody seems to be excoriating the Buchmans for their over-privilege and hollow pretences to multi-culti-exoticism. But then the core of this elegant rarity among indie dramedies that set out to wage war on contemporary American upper-financial-bracket living isn't a collection of hipster jabs at the expensive and irrelevant surface. It's about the multitude of often contradictory notes that define a family dynamic. The delicate and the volatile, the cautious and the explosive, the healing and the scarring, the generous and the chilling: Demme, Lumet and their incandescent cast find ways to encompass it all.

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Rachel Getting Married

This is the kind of movie that leaves you wanting more… fists. I wanted to punch Jonathan Demme after seeing it. If I had twelve hands, I would hit him with each of them. Everything about Rachel Getting Married is grit-in-the-eye irritating. From the home-video aesthetics to the Hindu-themed wedding (for non-Hindus), the movie is a How To-guide for making audiences wince. The lead character (and I choose my words carefully here) is the single most irritating woman in the history of cinema. I want to declare war on Rachel Getting Married. Like slavery, polio or pterodactyls; it’s better off eradicated.

The movie starts (ugh) with Anne Hathaway. She’s smoking a cigarette but she doesn’t have a gun – so she must be playing “edgy”. If she had a gun she’d be a bad girl. Or better yet, she might shoot herself. But no such luck. She’s getting out of rehab. It’s her sister’s wedding.Rachel [is] Getting Married. Anne has been given a weekend off from therapy to attend the nuptials (and pick up an Oscar nomination). This means she has to not drink or take drugs as noticeably as possible; renounce sympathy as needily as she can; and blame the love of her family for making her such a f— up (which would be outrageous, except: I’ve seen her family).

There’s a line in an F. Scott Fitzgerald story that sums up my feelings about Anne’s character. In The Four Fists, a man is described as having “hittable qualities about his face”. And it’s not that I would wish to condone violence against women for one moment, but when Debra Winger socks Hathaway one: I wanted to applaud. Never, in all my years of watching movies, have I so singularly disliked an individual. Hathaway’s acting is flawless, but the girl she’s playing is the kind of person you’d aim for if you saw her crossing the street. “Kym” – as she’s called – is needy, spiteful, mean-spirited, self-absorbed, useless, whiney, humourless and self-aggrandizing. You know that person you knew in college – the one who was always talking as thougheverything they said was the wisdom of Solomon; who always wanted you to listen even though you could never possibly understand. Imagine watching a two hour movie about them.

And the worst part is: that isn’t the worst of it. Pretty much everyone in the movie has “hittable qualities”. Kym’s father is the kind of spineless, cloying, doily-man you wouldn’t waste time blowing your nose on. Her sister has planned possibly the most stupefying idiotic wedding ceremony in history. Her brother-in-law is a f—ing JAZZ MUSICIAN. And the guy doing the music at the wedding is a wanker (what the hell was all that “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel” “Sidney, Sidney, Sidney”- song about?!!?). And the brother-in-law’s friends are wankers. And so’s the bloody Sting-wannabe (we’re talking lute-period Sting here) who sings at the after-party. And there’s a TEN MINUTE SCENE where people load a dishwasher. Am I a bad person for wanting all of these people dead?

There’s worthwhile subject matter at the heart of this movie. Examining the effects of addiction on the addict’s family is a fine and admirable premise. It’s just that… I hated it. I hated it so much that it wouldn’t matter if Rachel Getting Married cured cancer: I’d still boo. I realise my reasons are mostly ad hominem; that they don’t stand up to reason, and they fail to consider the movie as a work of art. But look – you and I – we’re human, we relate to people in movies. If you were trapped in a burning church with Kym and Rachel, you’d regret their company before the lack of a fire escape.

Rachel Getting Married

Like "Revolutionary Road" this is a hard to embrace movie that I loved. You can tell by these two choices I invite being challenged by dark material. This is director Jonathan Demme's great return to form with a more intimate movie. Yes the hand held camera takes getting used to but a lot of movies have already done this technique. Yes the title character is selfish but if you like family dramas this is powerful. The performances are the main selling point and Anne Hathaway is a revelation. I did not see this performance ever coming out of her. Debra Winger also returns to her old amazing form with a very great performance playing pretty much a cold bitch. This movie feels intimate, challenging and anyone who has a screwed up family or family member will identify with this movie. The speech by Hathaway's character during her sister's wedding rehearsal dinner is awkward, funny, painful and powerful. I also must mention that RoseMarie Dewitt and Bill Irwin give great performances that are Oscar worthy just like Hathaway and Winger.

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Vincent Snavely

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008)

BOTTOM LINE: The quasi-home movie/documentary style employed by director Jonathan Demme makes the experience of watching this film, at best, a dull bore; which ultimately dwarfs an otherwise stellar performance by Anne Hathaway playing against type and an unknown supporting cast who are likewise strong.

THE GOOD: For a character-driven family drama it is necessary to have a strong cast to carry the film and in this respect, “Rachel Getting Married” does manage to deliver the goods. Standing out like a beacon of light in the cast is the unusually cast Anne Hathaway who plays recovering drug addict “Kym”. For all intents and purposes, she is a juvenile delinquent who likes to rebel against her family despite yearning for their respect and acceptance while simultaneously pushing them away. She returns to the family on the eve of her sister’s wedding, disrupting everyone and everything in her path with her cynical outlook, biting one-liners and outright selfishness. Hathaway can play the sweet innocent to perfection (she has built her career on it), but in this film, none of that is present. Instead, we have a well rounded, tragic and three-dimensional portrayal of an internally conflicted woman who has never been able to get over a life-changing mistake that affected not only her but her whole family. This is a refreshing change for Hathaway who demonstrates she has much more range in this film, and is probably worthy of the oscar nomination. The remainder of the cast are likewise strong, full of unknowns for the most part, creating what looks like a real family, which is good given the stylistic choices employed for the film by director Jonathan Demme.

THE BAD: Filmmakers who try to recreate reality on film rather than dramatising it cinematically tend to create some very dull and long-winded film experiences of which “Rachel Getting Married” is no exception. Given the pedigree of Jonathan Demme, you would have expected a lot more from this film; instead we get a very cheap, indie-looking film that barely qualifies as a cinematic experience. This type of film leaves you wondering why you shelled out the money to buy a ticket for an experience that looks like a high definition version of your family album. The performances are fantastic, and the situations quite touching in concept, but the execution and style are so boring, dull and unimaginative that either walking out or reaching for the eject button are very real urges you will have while watching this piece; unless of course you enjoy paying to watch something you could see for free in real life. “Rachel Getting Married” suffers from a complete lack of stylistic vision, and although style should not overwhelm substance, in this case, the cinematic medium demands it.

RATING: 4/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Rachel Getting Married

I’ve heard the hype about this movie. Strangely most of my friends didn’t really like this movie, I thought I’d give it a try, then I realised the reason.

Rachel is getting married but she’s not the centre of attention here, Kym is. Kym (Anne Hathaway) is a recovering drug addict who returns home from rehab for her sister’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. While her daddy (Bill Irwin) showers her with all the love, Rachel isn’t too excited about her comeback. As Kym struggles to fit in the new environment, we discover more about her past and her messed up family.

I don’t care what the film experts say about this movie. Honestly, I dislike it. I agree the movie has an authentic characteristic but it doesn’t do a thing. Usually I would give credit for good story but this is one of the few exceptions. I think the story is butchered by the film technique. The camera was so shaky, it’s as if there was chronic earthquake or something. I was sea-sick and felt like vomitting after watching it. I’ve seen many documentary style films and this is probably the worst. I watched this with a friend and we were laughing so hard at a particular scene, let me try to put it in words; It was a low angle shot and the camera man starts following the actress, which means he’s either squat walking or he’s a dwarf (If you get what i mean). Ridiculously hilarious!

I’m not an expert so whether if you call this an artistic movie or whatever, I can’t really tell. All I know is that I’m glad I watched it on DVD so I can fast forward most of it, especially during the seemingly never-ending wedding. In addition, the music was disastrous. This movie is a total mess.
On the bright side, good story and good acting. If only it could salvage some points.

Mel says: 4/10

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Last updated: 2009-08-08 02:07:03 by popcornaday