Rachel Getting Married
User Score
5.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 199 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 109 out of 199
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 199
  3. Negative: 73 out of 199

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  1. GMan
    May 10, 2009
    0
    Worst piece of garbage I've ever had the misfortune to be sat in front of. A God-aweful train train wreck of a movie, and a tragic waste of a few precious minutes of the remaining days of my life. Gah!!!
  2. KaiF
    May 12, 2009
    10
    I wanted to give it a 9, but after reading all the comments i finally gave it a 10. It's kind of uplifting that this movie got so many mixed responses, but still i could't really understand why. Then i read a comment about how this is the most overrated movie since Lost in Translation. I think this says it all. There are three types of reviewers. 1. Who totally hated it 2. Who totally hated it but at least recognized the great acting 3. Who totally loved it. I think the first two groups of people got astray in their local big commercial cinema because the title stood next to those of the standard Hollywood production...best family drama i have ever seen and i have seen it twice, because it was not a second boring.… Expand
  3. JohnS
    May 24, 2009
    1
    15 minutes in and I knew renting this looked like a mistake. 30 minutes in and I stopped watching. Yet another example of a movie loved by critics and panned by those of us who just want to enjoy a movie.
  4. David
    May 31, 2009
    10
    A masterpiece. Anyone who has had a family tragedy or tensions will see the immense value of this film. Hathaway is a revelation here and I'm sure most of the negative comments come from folks who expected a typical Hathaway PRINCESS DIARY PART 14 but this is life and the chirpy Anne we have come to love was not invited to this wedding. Bravo to everyone involved, esp. director Demme. Thanks for an astounding evening....we didn't even pause the DVD for a restroom break!… Expand
  5. PatD
    Jun 27, 2009
    0
    An implausible piece of liberal, PC rubbish. Thumbs up for some of the acting performances, a shame it was all for naught in this stinker. Interesting merely as a study of what's wrong with America: neurotic, dysfunctional, nihilistic, delusional. Oh, and all that violin playing was very annoying.
  6. RustyJ
    Jun 29, 2009
    2
    To paraphrase President Obama, I'm not against all arty flicks, I'm against bad, boring arty flicks which on top of it waste a half hour playing mediocre music (Robyn Hitchcock? Pick up the phone Demme, the 80's are calling you home).
  7. RobS.
    Jul 22, 2009
    10
    This was a difficult movie to watch... and it was amazing. If you gave it a 0 or 1 then I guarantee that you've never known an addict. Hathaway's performance was phenomenal. I feel that all of the scenes that many reviewers felt were superfluous were designed to bring you closer to the family. The viewer was meant to experience this wedding as if they were part of the family and experience Kym's pain as if it affected them personally. This was of the best films that I have seen this year.… Expand
  8. marlac
    Aug 2, 2009
    2
    I should have listened to the viewers - where did i read this was a good movie? YUCKO! way too contrived - OMG this was horrible - too much talking - no action - what a bad soap opera.
  9. MB
    Aug 5, 2009
    0
    Was this Demme's attempt at Dogma? He should leave it to Von Trier and the other Europeans. If the majority of American families act like this - we truly are at the end of the Empire.
  10. ValentinaC
    Aug 7, 2009
    10
    I've just seen this film and i thought it was beautiful. Not only the plot and the acting was good, but notice the cinematography. Please do.
  11. Trevor
    Sep 1, 2009
    1
    wtf... I find it hard to believe this received the critical reviews it did. You would think professional movie critics would be able to see through faux-art contrivances that fill this movie from beginning to end, but apparently not. This film epitomises the phrase "all style and no substance". There really is no plot to speak of; imagine watching someone random person's wedding video, and you'll come pretty close to approximating what it was like to watch. The attempt to include every conceivable race and culture in the wedding party / ceremony is totally contrived. One of the most annoying, pointless films you are likely to see.… Expand
  12. TimS
    Sep 2, 2009
    2
    The acting is good and convincing. The movie is arty, indeed. But it doesn't save it from being excrutiatingly boring. Deep films which are also dynamic and interesting do exist; this one fails to keep attention.
  13. JeremyK
    Oct 13, 2009
    4
    Extraordinarily disappointing as I had built up some confidence in David Edelstein - who incredulously called this myopic misfire a "masterpiece" - but find myself utterly underwhelmed by this amateur-hour soap opera dresssed up as an edgy indie film. There is no doubt some craftiness to the direction and use of ensemble acting - but what a soulless cheeseball of a movie. We despise all the characters (sometimes guilting them by association) and the way the over-the-top antics of the main characters who are of so little consequence, not only to each other, but to the detriment of the viewers curiosity about - what happens next? "Who are these people and who cares?" is a more appropriately realistic intuition. A nauseating exercise in watching an out of touch director portray a cliched dysfunctional family, peppered with all the usual (only more agonizing to sit through) drama and squabbles while you get the distinct feeling that on and off screen, this group couldn't be more stuffed with themselves in their self-congratulations - as though something even remotely worthwhile had been fashioned. They're wrong and it's 2 hours of your life you'll never recover. I suppose it earns a four because of the intensity of my disdain for this film (much the same intensity of dislike I had for Paul Haggis' "Crash"-- that must be worth something, mustn't it? This my friends is a film made by and for the fat, happy and utterly ignorant.(Oh, and that's an expression, not an attack on the overweight). Skip it or see it and let the gagfest begin..… Expand
  14. BobF
    Oct 17, 2009
    5
    Very good acting and, I suppose, a good look at a family in distress. Too long and too many scenes that drift into meaningless wastes of time. The good is outweighed by the boredom. OK at best.
  15. txrangersfan72
    Sep 19, 2010
    5
    This might be the oddest reaction I've had to a movie in a long time. Overall, the movie was a complete bore. I think it was poorly directed by Jonathan Demme. The length was tantamount to watching paint dry. Granted, it was primarily centered around women, so drama is a given, but the extent and unending drama in this movie is unnecessary and quite stupid.

    Yet...

    Anne Hathaway, as nails    -on-chalkboard irritating as she is in this movie, obviously pulls off a stunning performance since I completely removed Anne Hathaway from the role. She WAS Kym. And, thus, as bad as the movie was, Anne Hathaway moved up a level in my book. A fantastic performance definitely worthy of the Oscar nod.… Expand
  16. Alienvisitor
    Nov 11, 2010
    10
    Amazing to read so many bad reviews for such a gripping movie. I don't know if MickaelK has a point when he writes that for some viewers used to a binary take on things, having to come to grips with psychological complexity may prove too unsettling, so they shut themselves up and would rather be bored stiff than admit to this uneasiness, which you feel at times. I guess some people do not want to be made to feel and think at the same time. What I found a little overdone, but I guess it was part of the caricature, was the wasp and higly pc atmosphere throughout; other than that, a very subtle movie about how guilt gets passed on from one family member to the next, how one copes -or not- with it ; great acting, all of them, and such moving moments, there's sthg "pure" and cutting about this movie, like crystal.… Expand
  17. Potter17
    Nov 1, 2011
    8
    Jonathan Demme is an expert in creating humanistic environments and immersing the viewer into the film. He did that in "The Silence of the Lambs" and repeats his technique here in a brilliant manner.
  18. TrevVV29
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    I rather have gone to an actual wedding and funeral over watching this tedious piece of crap. The meaning of this story is completely overseen by the pointless dragged out scenes.
  19. MovieMan12
    Jun 13, 2013
    0
    Anne Hatth a whatever her name is awful, just like this movie. It was painfully horrible to sit through. A pile of rubbish. It did not warrant my time. I hated everything about it.
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 36
  3. Negative: 1 out of 36
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Deborah Young
    80
    A film whose lightness of touch rides a wave of family conflict to perfectly balance smiles and tears.
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  2. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    50
    A minor work, but so menaced by distress that the characters take every opportunity to dance the dark away.
    Read full review
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    90
    Brimming with energy, elan and the unpredictability of his "Something Wild," Jonathan Demme's triumphant Rachel Getting Married may just lay the wedding film to rest, being such a hard act to follow.
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