Susan Granger’s review of “Margot at the Wedding” (Paramount Vantage)
Sisterhood is dissected in writer/director Noah Baumbach’s latest domestic drama
From the moment that sharp-tongued, successful short-story writer Margot (Nicole Kidman) arrives in the Hamptons from Manhattan with her reluctant 12 year-old son Claude (Zane Pais) for her free-spirited sister Pauline’s wedding, she makes it clear that – in her opinion – newly pregnant Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is marrying a loser in Malcolm (Jack Black), a whining, creepy, unemployed artist. As the ceremony approaches, one domestic complication crashes into the next, including Margot’s marital turmoil and cranky new neighbors who detest a beloved tree in the backyard.
That tree takes on a metaphysical aspect in that – in one scene – Margot is, literally, stranded atop it, needing to be rescued, and – in a later scene – Malcolm tries to chop it down with a chain-saw, achieving predictably disastrous results.
While Baumbach’s previous “The Squid and the Whale” was funny and touching because it showed acrimonious adults from the adolescent’s point-of-view, this outing has none of its neurotic charm. Instead, it’s filled with the kind of endless, petty squabbling that gives family occasions a bad name.
One’s aggressive and the other’s passive, but neither sister is even remotely interesting to watch or listen to. So it’s excruciating, at times, to have to spend 93 minutes in their company. Exquisite Nicole Kidman manages to make herself look downright dowdy in a brown wig, while usually scowling, snarling Jennifer Jason Leigh forces an occasional smile – or perhaps a twitch.
Since Baumbach utilizes primarily close-ups with a hand-held camera, showing no interest in the art of cinematography, and the pervasive mood is relentless angst. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Margot at the Wedding” is an unhappy, mind-numbing 4 – a dysfunctional family diatribe.
