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MARGOT AT THE WEDDING Send This Review to a Friend
Shown at the 2007 New York Film Festival, “Margot at the Wedding,” now in commercial release, is a disappointment. Noah Baumbach’s film, nowhere near the quality of his “The Squid and the Whale,” is a comedy with serious overtones, in which successful writer Margo (Nicole Kidman) goes to the impending wedding of her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whereupon all of the hostilities between them erupt and the wedding plans are ruined.
Margot disapproves of Pauline’s desire to marry Malcolm (Jack Black), a nonentity who loves Pauline, although he cheats on her. Margot is having her own troubles being a mother and finding a happy relationship. Baumbach works with a light touch, but the film itself is lightweight and the people are not very interesting despite the efforts of a good cast to make them worth watching.
Others in the cast include John Turturro, Ciarán Hinds and Zane Pais.
The cast can’t be faulted. Leigh gives as strong performance as possible, considering the role, and Kidman does what she can with what is basically an unsympathetic, boring, self-centered individual. Black works hard to make his character both foolish and sympathetic. One can simply grow tired of the people, and that doesn’t leave much opportunity for either enjoyment or insight. A Paramount Vantage release.
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