I truly do not get all the positive reviews - maybe the filmmaker is "brave" for presenting characters an audience would ever warm up to, but the problem is that he gives us no reason to care what happens to these dysfunctional messes. There are plenty of wonderful movies with mostly loathsome and/or pitiful characters (and this one plenty!), but the difference being plot and character development that makes sense (none of that here!) and grabs your interest (I can't recall a 90 minute movie seeming so long in recent memory). After rolling my eyes at the ridiculous ending, I realized that I should just be thankful it was over. I liked "Squid and the Whale", but this was torture.… Expand

If I wanted to see terrible human beings do terrible things to nice people (and occasionally themselves) I'd spend more time with my extended family. Baumbach takes a HUGE step backwards.

Unlikeable characters behaving in unpleasant ways, plot developments you can see on any daytime soap -- why are so many critics loving this film? And what happened to Nicole Kidman's face? If you want ot see what Noah Baumbach can do, rent "The Squid and the Whale." Avoid this mess; he got lost in the "Margot" script and never found his way out.

This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Not just a chick flick, but a pointless, self-indulgent chick flick.

All the characters in this flick need to be in therapy. No insights gleaned from their rantings. Cannot recommend this travesty.

Well filmed, well acted, affecting at times, but ultimately a huge disappointment. The characters don't speak like humans do, don't react like humans react, and don't have any motivation. I have a feeling that the writing was a stylistic decision pushed way to far, because despite great filmmaking and performances, the movie comes out jumbled and thin.

This was not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. I was looking forward to it for a while now as I really enjoyed The Squid and the Whale. However, none of the characters were likable, especially Nicole Kidman's, who did give a very good performance. For that alone the movie scored some points for me. Otherwise, I agree with the New York Post's assessment - a highly pretentious movie about disturbingly ugly people. Jack Black has yet to convince me he's anything but a supporting actor in a B-movie.… Expand

Aside from some fine acting, this film is a badly written mess. All the adult characters are raving neurotics without redeeming or attractive qualities. After ten minutes with any of these thoroughgoing whack-jobs we want to run screaming. The one exception seems to be Margot's husband, played by John Tuturro, but after his small dollop of sanity and five minutes of screen time, he's gone for good. Even the neighbors are straight from Hell. The weakest actor of the bunch is Jack Black, who, sad to say, is perfectly cast to play a pathetic, childish loser. But they're all pathetic losers in their own special way. As a Gilbert and Sullivan song says: "When everybody is somebody, then nobody is anybody." All these folks are so dysfunctional as to be hopeless. When we have no hope for them (or their poor children!) we lose interest rapidly. The film this should be compared to - one about another dysfunctional family, but one with complex, human characters - is Mike Leigh's brilliant "Secrets and Lies" Noah Baumbach should be sentenced to watch that film 4 o 5 times before he is allowed to waste such actors' - and our - time again.… Expand