SummaryWhen Kym returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel, she brings a long history of personal crisis, family conflict and tragedy along with her. The wedding couple’s abundant party of friends and relations have gathered for a joyful weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym—with her biting one-liners and fla...
SummaryWhen Kym returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel, she brings a long history of personal crisis, family conflict and tragedy along with her. The wedding couple’s abundant party of friends and relations have gathered for a joyful weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym—with her biting one-liners and fla...
This is one of my all-time favorite movies (a very short list). The story is a brilliant telling of the complex and painful impact addiction can have on a person and her family; yet it's also a moving story about familial love. The ensemble acting is over the top brilliant, especially Anne Hathaway as Kimmy. The filming brings you directly into the heart of the events. Even the (live) music is top notch.
BTW, some critics hated the movie because they thought it was a bad attempt at comedy. They need to get a new job.
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.
Most of the time, Demme's deliberately unstable mixture of moods and genres produces electric results. Rachel Getting Married takes a familiar subject--the raw nerves of American family life with--and draws fresh blood.
A triumph of ambience, Rachel Getting Married is the first narrative feature since the 1980s from director Jonathan Demme that feels like a party--bittersweet, but a party nonetheless.
The sprawling cast, the naturalistic, overlapping dialogue (here by screenwriter Jenny Lumet, daughter of director Sidney) and the swirling action: it seemed pure Robert Altman.
The result is a mess. Kym, in Hathaway's unsympathetic performance, is an annoyingly sour observer of the proceedings, a time bomb everyone hopes will not explode before the marriage is completed.
When I prepared to see this film, I had a certain amount of expectations. I had heard very good opinions about it, including friends, and I expected an excellent film. In fact, the film is good, but it is not exactly impressive, and I feel that it has been a little overrated.
The film shows the visit of Kym Buchman to his family of origin, to attend the wedding of her sister, Rachel. The family is rich, white, conventional, tolerant, polite and affable: their parents are divorced, remarried and live separate lives, but they maintain a good relationship and everything is perfect in this family, whom everyone likes (the abundance of friends and guests shows this). Kym is the dissonant note: with a past marked by the use of drugs and alcohol, and also by a terrible tragedy that has marked the family ever, she will be the center of several moments of family tension.
As you can see, the film is a family drama based on scarce premises. It is basically a home video of a wedding in a wealthy family, which covers the entire wedding and the family conflicts around the characters, ending in a sterile way, with nothing substantial happening as a result of what we saw, in a totally open, empty end. Directed by Jonathan Demme, the film has several positive points, starting with the way in which the characters are developed and psychologically rich, and the way in which it took from the actors the best they could give. But the hollow story is truly disappointing.
The cast is very good and is headed by Anne Hathaway, so deep, committed, strong and impactful that it is impossible to remain indifferent. The character is not pleasant, she is someone who has already made many mistakes, too many mistakes, in her life and still wants to be trusted. It is not easy, especially knowing the ups and downs that drug addicts, even those who have already rehabilitated, feel in their daily struggle against addiction. But Hathaway was colossal and was able to bring all her psychological wealth to her character and give us one of the richest dramatic works in her career to date. Debra Winger is another great actress who is present in this film and enchants us. I also liked Bill Irwin's work. Less interesting, Rosemarie DeWitt does what she can in a character that is highly unpleasant and that permanently sounds like a spoiled girl in need of attention.
Technically, the film has some positive and some frankly negative points. On the positive side, I would highlight the excellent design of the costumes and sets. And in fact I recognize the innovative and original way in which Demme explored the soundtrack, allowing for its gradual creation as the film was shot, in a sound cacophony that fits well in the wedding preparations. Despite that, I didn't like that, and I feel that, with that option, the film became tiring for the audience's ears. Another option that I understand, but I didn't like, was the use of the handheld camera and a constantly shaky cinematography. The use of close-ups also seemed to me to be abusive. I felt that Demme wanted us to take a good look at the nose holes of the entire cast.
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.
I'm not one for hyperbole. I'm not easily impressed. I'm not overly critical. I'm pretty objective. That said: this is seriously THE WORST movie I ever saw. Nothing to like. No characters likeable. Just terrible. Camarawork and editing is the worst ever. B grade or below. Don't watch this POS. Just don't!
I love Anne Hathaway....didn't care for her in this. The only redeeming quality was how laughably bad it was. As the torture fest went on, we just had to laugh to each other to ease the pain. So bad. Bad music, bad bad **** the point? I rarely give a zero.
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.