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The Bridal Review: Rachel Getting Married
by Ali
Director Jonathan Demme’s latest movie, Rachel Getting Married, is a rich and nuanced portrait of a long wedding weekend, from the day of the rehearsal dinner through the ceremony. It’s not, however, the frothy cotton-candy romance or broad comedy one usually expects from a wedding movie.
That’s because the person at the center of Rachel Getting Married is not, in fact, Rachel – and she’s pretty upset about that. Rachel’s sister Kym is leaving drug rehab to attend the wedding, and Kym is an expert at making the whole family swirl around her many crises.
Anne Hathaway plays Kym beautifully and fairly – she shows Kym’s painful struggle to stay sober without cutting her character any breaks. Kym is a drama queen, almost physically unable to let a conversation happen without wrenching the topic around to herself. As Kym feels more and more sidelined by the wedding preparations, she can’t resist stirring up trouble to get attention, then whines that everyone is against her. Though Kym is clearly a troubled soul who would like to heal, she is also fundamentally a pain in the butt to deal with, and Hathaway doesn’t shy away from that.
Rachel Getting Married is a terrifically real portrait of the way families and relationships work with a keen ear for detail – a scene in which Rachel and Kym tell a much-loved old story together, finishing each other’s thoughts, shows how Kym uses the moment to reinforce a bond with her sister… And at the same time to exclude Rachel’s best friend.
It’s also an amazingly realistic portrait of an at-home wedding. You’ll leave the movie feeling like you’ve been a weekend guest at one. There are friends and preparations all over the house. Rachel’s fiancé Sidney is a musician, so his musician friends are everywhere too – practicing or having impromptu jams or just idly strumming away, always. It’s the kind of wedding that has a rehearsal dinner where everyone plays a song and then everyone makes a toast, so make sure you like those in real life before you hit this movie. After the film’s wedding reception finale – which also realistically lasts for dances and dances and dances even though you’re already tired – one of my fellow movie patrons left the theater saying “That was exhausting!”
And the movie is, in many ways, more exhausting than fun. While Kym is a complex character, expertly played, if you’ve already had someone like her in your life it isn’t necessarily a treat to watch her come so thoroughly to life on screen. When Kym stood up to make a toast at the rehearsal dinner, the guy next to me in the theater actually started writhing in discomfort. He and several other people in the theater left to take long breaks during the movie.
So if you’re looking for light romantic comedy or Wedding Crashers–style fun, you might want to go with something else.
Still, it’s a quietly well-done movie with some really good performances. In addition to Hathaway, the all-but-silent Tunde Adebimpe shows why Sidney is such a source of strength to Rachel, and the remarkable Debra Winger returns to the screen just long enough to make you wonder why she hasn’t been starring in everything, always.
While the movie is definitely wedding-positive and marriage-positive – it is unabashedly celebratory about the merging of tribes – it’s not necessarily one you want to see in the last couple of months leading up to your wedding unless your life is blissfully free of difficult family members.
Rachel Getting Married
Overall Rating:
Blowing off Bridal Steam Rating:
Fun with the Girls Rating:
Degree of Wedding Porn: (Two stars for a simple yet eclectic and multicultural wedding)
Makes You Want to Get Married Right This Minute:
Fair Trade for Making Your Fiancé See It: This isn’t really a chick flick, so you may not need to make a trade at all. If he’s a Demme fan or an indie movie fan, your guy may suggest it himself. If he hates indies, quiet thinky movies, or folk music, however, you’re looking at an action flick (with popcorn) and plenty of loud non-acoustic music during the car ride home. You may be ready for those yourself.
