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Margot (Nicole Kidman) and Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are sisters,
but they don’t get along at all. However, you think they’re going to put
their difference aside when Pauline announces that she’s getting married
to Malcolm (Jack Black), whom she met at a self-help seminar. The truth
is Margot seems more bent on stirring up trouble and getting away from
her husband (John Turturro) than putting their pasts behind them. She shows
up with her son Claude (Zane Pais) and immediately starts pointing out
all the things that are wrong with Malcolm – and she’s right that he’s
got plenty of issues, but he’s not the only one. Pauline is pregnant, insecure,
needy, and is feuding with her neighbors over a family tree. Margot is
a writer who uses her family’s problems in her books; she’s also having
an affair with her publicist, Dick (Ciarán Hinds) and dumps all
her woes on her son Claude.
In the dysfunctional family competition, this one would certainly take a prize. If they were awful to each other and funny, they might be more interesting, but unfortunately, they’re not. Who wants to watch horrible people doing horrible things to each other and not one of them changes – they just keep on being the horrible characters that they are. That may be truer to life, but it’s not something you’d be happy to pay money to see (unless you’re fascinated by watching neurotic trainwrecks).
Noah Baumbach either hits big or totally misses with his writing (this
is a strike out). It’s a case where a talented cast can’t wring an ounce
of entertainment from a mess of a script. They might have taken on these
roles to stretch themselves as actors, who knows. It’s like when they get
naked on film (physically and emotionally), thinking it means they’re brave,
but sometimes it just means they’re naked. And the result isn’t always
watchable – in this case, save your money and your time and decline the
invitation to this wedding.
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