Review: Rachel Getting Married (2008) ****
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married is a raw, edgy examination of the unique power of families to tear apart as well as to heal. It begins with Kym Buchman (a chain-smoking Anne Hathaway) getting out of rehab for the weekend to attend the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt). Weddings are a stressful time even under ordinary circumstances, but for the Buchman family, the coming weekend promises to be a cauldron where a lifetime of anger, bitterness, resentment and regret come bubbling to the surface. Stoking the fires are the unhealed wounds of a family tragedy that happened a decade before.
Like the film itself, the character of Kym is a hard one to warm up to. Wielding caustic sarcasm as a weapon, she’s a deeply flawed human being whose selfishness is amplified by the real demands of coping with her drug and alcohol addiction. As she passive-aggressively wrestles the spotlight from her older sister, she seems to expect that her problems should also belong to everyone else. For her part, Rachel naturally resists. She’s lived in the shadow of Kym’s dramas her entire life but this weekend is supposed to belong to her and her fiancé Sidney (TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe). With these two characters as the focal point, there is a constant tension between the past and the future. The result is a building sense that the weekend will evolve (or devolve) into a turning point for better or worse or both.
Given the task of inhabiting these deglamorized characters with all their flaws exposed, the entire cast delivers. DeWitt is terrific as the exasperated Rachel and so is Bill Irwin as the father/peacemaker. As the slightly tuned-out mother, Debra Winger reminds us of what a powerful screen presence she can be when she’s given a role worthy of her talents.
Best of all is Anne Hathaway who is given the biggest challenge and who provides the biggest surprise. A frequently underused actress, Hathaway showed glimmers of what she might be capable of in Brokeback Mountain, but here she’s finally given a chance to prove that she’s a first class actress who can carry a film. Kym is often an unlikable character but Hathaway never softens her. Instead, she infuses her with an aching vulnerability that makes it easy to sympathize with her despite her rough edges. You root for her to pull her life together even when she’s being selfish and horrible. It’s a tall order and a lesser actress may have stumbled, but Hathaway pulls it off. Though the other actors should not be overlooked, it’s Hathaway’s performance that ultimately makes the film work.
Guiding the cast is a supremely confident Jonathan Demme. Filming without the safety net of a large budget, he seems to have found a new reserve of energy and creativity. Working from a vibrant script by Jenny Lumet (daughter of Sydney), Demme follows his cast through rooms full of people and activity, letting the drama unfold and capturing it in an urgent you-are-there vérité style that recalls Robert Altman at his best. The dialogue is conversational and natural, the edits are minimal and the music soundtrack is provided strictly by performances in the film. There’s an especially sweet moment when Adebimpe delivers an a cappella rendition of Neil Young’s Unknown Legend.
As it swings between moments of excoriating drama and great tenderness, watching Rachel Getting Married is almost as discomforting as being stuck in the middle of a family argument. Though it sometimes hurts, it also feels bracing, cathartic and authentic. However, there is abundant humor that goes a long way to easing some of the emotional sting and keeping it from being unbearable.
It’s the combination of it all — the ups, the downs and the in-betweens — that makes Rachel Getting Married a moving portrait of life that almost feels real. It’s raw filmmaking on a personal scale carried home by powerful ensemble acting and it’s a film well worth seeing.
Rachel Getting Married. USA 2008. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Written by Jenny Lumet. Cinematography by Declan Quinn. Edited by Tim Squyres. Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Tunde Adebimpe and Debra Winger. 1 hour 54 minutes. MPAA Rated R for language and brief sexuality. 4 stars (out of 5)
Filed under: Reviews
Tags: Anna Deavere Smith, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Debra Winger, Declan Quinn, Jenny Lumet, Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Squyres, Tunde Adebimpe
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I cannot wait to see this, I have wanted to for ages now, it looks wholly remarkable.
As the resident Hathaway homer, I’ll leave it to others to talk about her performance. As to the film itself, I expected it to be very good, but it was better than I expected. Probably my favorite fiction film of the year so far. Really moving. Other than a few conveniences, the script is excellent. It’s also one of the best cast films I’ve seen, down to every last bit part. Except maybe Adebimpe. Intersting note - I read yesterday that Demme offered the groom role to Paul Thomas Anderson, who read for it but turned it down.
One Hathaway thought that I couldn’t fit in my review ….
somehow she manages to look like Audrey Hepburn and sound like Katherine Hepburn. A very quick, slightly arch sort of patter, and the cigarettes added to the effect.
Nicely written review. I of course haven’t seen it yet, but it has the feel of one that’s going to get some major awards love in at least a few categories this spring. I’m looking forward to making up my own mind about it.
Interesting point about the Hepburns, K. Wonder if that was at all intentional. I can see Demme thinking that up.
Jenny, the archness doesn’t quite stand out, in the way it does for Hepburn. But it was, for me at least, noticeable. I’m trying to think if that is her normal voice, and I’m coming up blank.
The Philadelphia Story is about a disrupted wedding, though …. :)
Your well-done review, Craig, is one more reason I’m casting aside my early fears and reservations about this film. Since Brokeback, I’ve been keeping an eye on Hathaway, hoping that she’d build a sound foundation of work and ultimately land the right role with which to break through. This one may be it.
Interesting comparisons to the Hepburns.
If what I’m hearing is correct — and I’m beginning to think so — this film will not only be well received critically but also strike a chord with mature audiences.
Nick, I hope you like it. As I said above, it can be a hard film to warm up to…usually hollywood characters are either good or bad, but rarely both and never at the same time. Kym is not necessarily the kind of girl you’d want to spend a lot of time with, she can be irritating, but it all feels kind of refreshing.
I think you’re right about awards JB…at least for Hathaway (though the actress field is always so crowded) and I’m sure it will make it to your neck of the woods sooner or later. It’s expanding this weekend…alas not to AR just yet.
Interesting thought on the Hepburns KB. I think you could extend that to her personality in the film. She could be sweet, but she could also be very tart.
I didn’t have room for it in the review really, but one of my favorite scenes ***KINDA SPOILERY*** was the quiet moment post-accident where Rachel was bathing her. This after much emotional intensity prior. It illustrated their love-hate relationship in just a few moments.
I hope you catch it and you like it Pierre. Yes, it’s emotionally raw and it can be difficult, but there’s also a feeling of catharsis. You’re not abused for the sake of abuse.
And I neglected to mention in the review that there is abundant humor to temper some of the emotional roughness (hmm…maybe I can squeeze that in somewhere)
Nicely done, I completely agree and I also wrote a most-enthusiastic assessment with the same four-star rating.
I became excited about this after seeing Sam was so enthusiastic about it, and now I’m even more so to see Craig concur.
Very much looking forward to this…
I think Kym has been a bit misunderstood. She does some lousy things, but I never thought she was a bad person. She has a conscience, and I never detected real cruelty in her. And she seems like a fun person, the most fun in a slightly uptight family.
SPOILER
For instance, when she forces her way into the maid of honor role, it’s been interpreted by many critics as a rotten act of selfishness. But when you watch it, it really isn’t selfish, in the sense that she doesn’t want to be the maid of honor just because she wants the honor of doing so. Rather, it comes from her deep insecurity about her role in the family. She fears what not being the maid of honor signals. For that reason, It understandably means something to her. Everyone assumes it’s about the vanity, but it means something more to her than just the vanity of it.
That echoes my thoughts completely. I liked RACHEL as I walked out of it a week and a half ago and have only grown to admire it more in subsequent days…
Kym’s self-centeredness really grated on me…it’s one of my personal pet peeves. It was more than just the maid of honor thing. It was the toast that was really about HER and not about Rachel…it was a lot of things. But I agree that she wasn’t a bad person. She was guilty of having done bad things, but I think she was genuinely trying to atone and honestly struggling to do the right thing.
One of the great things about the movie is that it allowed all the characters to be imperfect.
As I start to read other reactions, I’m picking up on some griping regarding the contrived multi-culturalism of the wedding and people applying that to Demme himself. Jeff Wells even expressed shock that no one mentioned that it was an interracial marriage and that this was somehow false.
For starters, Wells’ reaction is a crock of shit. Second, I went to college with a lot of white people who were rich enough to be able to “play” at multiculturalism and I think to a large extent that’s what the Buchman family was doing. It felt real to me and not dishonest on Demme’s part.
Is that making any sense or am I a dog chasing his own tale here?
I think the “multicultural” bent is right on-point and fits the dynamic well.
Rachel and Kym’s family is at times loving, yes, but it is also very reflective of a breed of two-faced elitism. The family is progressive enough to embrace interracial marriage with moral wholeheartedness (although perhaps inauthentic-ally), rightly never making mention of the issue during the movie, but it is are also distanced from reality enough to nurse Kym’s addiction-inflicting pain through a neglect of emotional honesty.
Dunno how well that will hold for others, but I found it to be a valid link.
I loved your well modulated review with its nuanced and incisive observations. The balance you described the film achieving between moments of discomforting drama and of great tenderness is so often reached for within the genre but rarely pulled off. The bracing sense of authenticity you experienced really has me excited about this film.
I believe this is one of your finest reviews, Craig. You achieved a superbly expressive poetry here, describing the manner in which the film sensitively transported you into a marvelously rich and rewarding place. The favorable comparison to the osmosis-like ability of the best of Altman’s to immerse the audience in such a shaded and nuanced world especially has me excited about seeing this. I began glancing at your review, and did not wish to read it as I have yet to see the film but your words continued to draw me in, until I relented. Fantastically done.
wow, thanks guys. It just goes to show you…you never know how a review will be received until it goes up.
Danny, I think I understand what you’re saying. Based on a recent post by Karina Longworth over at SpoutBlog, I’ve been thinking of the Buchman’s multi-culturalism as a necessary component to their characters and there’s an irony to what appears to be a perfect modern family being torn apart from the inside.
I don’t know Demme’s political bent, but you could even argue he’s making a political statement with RGM. On the surface the Buchmans represent a sort of expansive, liberal, 60s ideal, but underneath they’re being carved up by a the darker side: the drugs, the indulgence, the permissiveness etc.
Based on how it tentatively turns out, I don’t think he’s being overly critical, but he’s at least examining it.
Great review, Craig. Gonna go see this one.
“I don’t know Demme’s political bent, but you could even argue he’s making a political statement with RGM. On the surface the Buchmans represent a sort of expansive, liberal, 60s ideal, but underneath they’re being carved up by a the darker side: the drugs, the indulgence, the permissiveness etc.”
Much better wording, Craig; that’s exactly what I was thinking. If Demme’s documentaries are any indication, he’s very left-wing, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand how any set of politics can be practiced on the exterior and exploited from within, as one might argue is the case with the Buchmans.
Thanks Rick. Nice to see you again. I hope Rachel works for you.
Also Danny, he might not necessarily be making a statement so much as engaging in a little self-examination. Looking at the bad that inevitably comes with the good and trying to work it out. That’s what art is for, right?
Certainly — and I think “looking at the bad that inevitably comes with the good and trying to work it out,” fits right at home in RGM because that’s essentially what the characters (try to?) do.
[MInor spoiler]I think one element that needs to be looked at is that the family is very conscious of their image. Not necessarily in a bad way, or an unusual way. But it says something that dad wants Kym to go into a public relations position. And her response to that is priceless.
That’s why I see the flipside of Kym’s dinner speech. A selfish disaster, yes, but the most heartfelt and honest speech, too, in its own terrible way.
Both scenes worked for me primarily because they were true to ‘addict behavior’, unlike that seen in most films of the sort. I don’t mean to pretend to know a lot about addiction, but as a self-proclaimed Dr. Drew-programming-arsenal addict myself, Hathaway’s interpretation really rang true for me in this department unlike any other recent portrayal of someone in recovery. The dinner speech is downright revelatory — one of the strongest moments in the whole film despite its deceptive external simplicity.
I agree with you both and it’s ultimately why I liked the movie. When I say Kym is difficult to warm up to, it’s not a wholesale rejection of her character. Her dinner speech was great, it was just her timing that was off.
Although I feel RGM is very good, I think I liked this movie just a bit less than you did, Craig. The cinema verite closeup style seemed a little overused. I also got a little tired of repetitiveness. For example, the rehearsal dinner scene overemployed the toasts IMO. These excesses brought a little too much attention to style.
The family/party scenes, in the many moments without dialogue, reminded me of similar scenes toward the end of Philadelphia. I believe Demme is trying to potray a universe for us, one in which racial, religious and other cultural differences don’t exist. By not making an overt social statement through story or dialogue, he’s making a social statement in contrast to the more traditional American values we see portrayed out of Hollywood.
We’re being reminded — implicitly — just how much our world is different from All in the Family. This film is a generational marker that many in the Academy, I imagine, will be drawn to.
Demme seems to be presenting a microcosm of a sort of post-multicultural society where parents don’t even blink at the idea of interracial marriage much less premarital pregnancy. Where amplified guitars playing the wedding march aren’t given a second thought, where the trappings of lifestyles once regarded as countercultural occur hand in hand with affluence and conservatism. And he shows us professionally successful individuals — such as Irwin’s character and the best man — who’ve lost their emotional bearings, who are lost or have been lost in a very personal way — but nevertheless are likable and sympathetic.
I can see AMPAS catching the wave with this film to the extent that it could receive several nominations.
“Like the film itself, the character of Kym is a hard one to warm up to.”
In my case, unfortunately, I didn’t warm up to it at all. I already said all of this a couple weeks ago but I only read your review now after I finished mine.
I actually saw the interracial marriage as less of a social statement and more of a fashion statement (I’m only guessing that, though it’s not addressed within the dialogue, it may have been part of Lumet’s draft). Image is important to the family, as KB notes. The whole event had too much of a hip, Park Slope-ish feel to it for me. I’d be thrilled to learn that Demme was attempting to present such an optimistic multicultural microcosm, Pierre, but I didn’t see it as such.
KB’s, Danny’s and your comments have helped me see it in a bit of a more positive light, but I still just found myself unable to feel sympathetic for these characters, not because I thought any of them were inherently bad, but because like you said, Craig, they all seemed so self-absorbed. That’s why I also agree the bathing scene was a refreshing surprise.
It’s impossible to argue with you on this point Daniel though I saw the fashion statement as being one made by the characters more than by the filmmaker…if that distinction makes any sense.
I liked Rachel Getting Married too, but I’d agree with Daniel that some of the elements seemed a bit contrived. Still, overall I liked the movie. I thought the cast was pretty good all round, especially Alison Dewitt as Rachel. Hathaway was good but I often teetered on hating her character, which made the movie somewhat difficult to sit through. Demme’s camera work and editing were impressive and Lumet’s script uses the wedding itself as an interesting way to get at all the characters, much the same way Altman’s A Wedding does.
But much of the film grated on me too. Even though there are only two references, the son home from Iraq got tiring in its obviousness. All the little cultural touchstones (interracial marriage, rehab, etc) felt a little contrived, and the sheer opulence of the wedding left my head spinning. While it was a beautiful ceremony and probably a greatest hits of Wedding magazine ideas, it felt like they were sort of rubbing our noses in it when the Carnivale dancers and drummers show up late in the evening.
Anyway, this is a good movie but didn’t feel like the great movie I wanted it to be. I think maybe Demme overdid it just a bit but I respect what he was doing. It’s nice to see him back in his comfort zone again.
“I often teetered on hating her character, which made the movie somewhat difficult to sit through.” I totally agree even if I liked the movie a bit better than you.
As I said elsewhere, the contived multi-culturalism of the wedding seemed like an affectation that belonged to the characters more than the director so I give it a pass (with a little snicker). I totally could see one of the rich kids from our Alma Matter having a wedding JUST LIKE this.
I finally saw this last week, and loved it. Anne Hathaway has never been better, and the entire film just works. I love it’s incisive, slice of life feel, and the Altman-esque structure…just sublime.
Yeah, that might be why it annoyed me…my patience/sympathy for trust funders has a short fuse. I mean, I appreciated the wedding (it was quite beautiful from start to finish) and I didn’t dislike the characters themselves (mostly), I just felt it was a tad much, as though Lumet and Demme were stuffing a politically correct wad of multi-cultural goodness down my throat and expecting me to like it. If the family hadn’t been so obviously upper-middle class and privileged, I might not have minded it so much but it felt a little over-the-top.
But I still liked the movie, it just didn’t blow me away.
It blew me away. Loved it.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/awards-information/rachelgettingmarried_screenplay.pdf