Margot at the Wedding **1/2

2007
Writer / Director Baumbach, Noah
With: Nicole Kidman, Zane Pais, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, John Turturro (cameo)
Seen on DVD



This is more of a character study than a real narrative. Basically, two sisters reunite at the wedding of the hippyish / free spirit of Leigh's character. after a long and icy separation. Nicole Kidman is the visiting sister who is controlling and neurotic. Leigh's character is going to marry a slacker played by Jack Black. And that's pretty much it! Sure there are the hillbilly neighbors that terrorize the family especially the little boy played by Pais. There is Nicole Kidman's upcoming divorce etc.

The story is the characters and the actor do a very fine job with them. They are a dysfunctional family, perhaps more dysfunctional than any family truly is. ( I ttake that back, there are probably real life families that are more dysfunctional than this. Think of the many uneducated who have drunken or drug addicted parents and criminal children. Or perhaps that is a different species of disfunction that goes by a different name.) The actions of these characters make the viewer squirm. It makes the viewer say to him/her self, "My that person is screwed up!"

Jack Black is of course there for comic relief. But he doesn't overplay it. He plays the darker side of his character much more convincingly. He really is not that funny, and when he tries to be, it is kind of disturbing, almost violently scary, which I think is appropriate to show how dysfunctional he is.

There are lots of hints that some sinister things have happened in the past, but they are never spelled out for us. For instance, we don't know why Kidman's character wants a divorce. The two sisters refer to something bad that happened with their father, but also said that the other sister (who never shows up and might have some sort of developmental delay or psychological problem) got the worst of it. These things are never explained, but do add to the characters personalities. I like that they were never explained. It made me have to think about whatmight of happened.

So over all, I enjoyed this a great deal because of the acting. I also liked it's darker, angsty edge. It can get a tad tiresome sometimes. Sometimes you just want to shout at the character to not be so stupid.