It's the story of a woman who is miserable and wants to make everyone else around her miserable too. Nicole Kidman plays Margot, the miserable writer who thinks she knows everything, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who I have finally forgiven for her performance in Georgia, plays her sister who is about to get married to Jack Black. Kidman might or might not be getting a divorce from her husband in this film and so she sets out to make the upcoming marriage of her sister not happen. It sounds like a weepy chick flick but it's actually pretty good. I hated Kidman's character with the heat of 1000 suns going super nova, which means that she did a hell of an acting job. She's repulsively obnoxious in this film and when she gets her just desserts, she becomes even more of an ass. Jennifer Jason Leigh is really good in this movie and it's good to see her play the relatively normal sibling for a change. Jack Black is good as well and that's because he wasn't allowed to be the usual wacky out there Jack Black character.
But the best performances in this film were by the kids who played the teenagers. As Kidman's son on the cusp of manhood Zane Pais shines. Flora Cross plays his cousin and she shines as well. Also good in a kind of 'heel' role is Halley Feiffer. She plays the object of Pais's affection and the neighborhood bad girl who Jack Black's character dabbled around with.
This film about miserable white people was directed by Noah Baumbach. He must really know this kind terrain well because he also directed The Squid and the Whale, which is also about white folks who are miserable.
Margot at the Wedding is hard to watch at times but I recommend it.
2 comments:
Thank you for your perceptive comment that it was good to see Jennifer Jason Leigh playing "the relatively normal sibling for a change." I've always thought there was a talented and sensitive actress hiding behind the smut-and-junk roles she tended to choose for herself...
Oh, I want to see this. I am all about lovin' white folks who are miserable. I think that might describe the middle class ennui I try and relay. Sure, people are starving. Sure, people are dying, but there is a whole culture dying on the inside, and one would think it unnecessary, but... nope. It's mental illness issues, alcoholism issues, on top of the malaise of living in a murderistic capitalistic society. Gonna watch it. Thanks. I love your taste in movies. Maybe you wrote it in some posts I'm about to get to, but I just saw Inglorious Basterds in the theater last night. It was excellent, and I usually can't stand Tarantino's violence. I covered my eyes a few times and it was all good. Beware: it'll make you love Brad Pitt- though that's not hard after some of his roles.
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