Margot at the Wedding

Noah Baumbach has directed six movies and is carving out his own little niche in the indie movie world. “Margot at the Wedding” is his sixth, but only the second I have seen. The last one, “The Squid and the Whale,” was a mixed bag, at times painfully funny, at times just painful. “Margot at the Wedding” is all of the latter and none of the former. This is the movie for you if you’re feeling unpleasant and want some company.

Margot, played by Nicole Kidman with absolutely no sense of humor, is a short story writer. This is an important character detail, because the only kind of writer more pretentious than a short story writer is a playwright – or, sometimes, a movie critic. Margot is returning home, her son in tow, to attend her sister’s wedding. Her sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has not spoken to her since Margot published a story about her in a magazine that, according to Pauline, killed her last marriage. The reunion includes this exchange:

Margot: I’m sorry you were so angry.
Pauline: I wasn’t angry, I was disappointed.
Margot: Uh huh, but you see, when you say disappointed, that puts me in a crummy situation, like I let you down.
Pauline: Well, you did, in a way.
Margot: No, I don’t see it like that.
Pauline. Fine. I felt betrayed, is that word okay?
Margot: Again, you’re making me the agressor!
Pauline: You were the agressor. Listen, let’s not…I’ve become a really good cook.

Which is well-written, as far as it goes, but the thing is, it’s supposed to be funny. And it’s not, it’s just painful. What makes it more painful is that at this point in the movie, you don’t know yet what they’re fighting about (ok, dear reader, so you know, because I told you. They’re fighting about her ruined marriage. So maybe telling you was a spoiler. But trust me, it’s better that you know.) The whole thing has the feeling of being invited over to a college friend’s house for a holiday, and then completely understanding why your friend always wants to come to your house for Christmas. These people are hyperliterate, self-absorbed, self-loathing, and incredibly dysfunctional. They need to have a screaming, yelling, wake up the neighbors, throw some dishes and maybe furniture kind of family fight, but they don’t. Instead, they exchange perfectly polite, totally socially acceptable verbal lacerations until everyone is bleeding and no one is left standing. Ouch.

There’s a brief turn by John Turturro as the husband Margot is running away from, and he’s the first decent, sane person to appear onscreen. He provides a decent foil for Margot’s histrionics, and you wish he had more time in the movie. At least then there’d be someone to relate to, someone to root for. But he comes and goes in a matter of about ten minutes, and it’s back to Bedlam.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYnA98RMla8]

I think casting Nicole Kidman as Margot might’ve been Noah Baumbach’s first, and biggest, mistake. In “the Squid and the Whale,” Jeff Bridges plays the corresponding part, that of the unforgivably pretentious, self-absorbed writer. But Jeff Bridges is lovably goofy, and Nicole Kidman is not. In fact, Kidman may be the least lovable or goofy actress I’ve ever come across. I don’t mean that as an insult, just as an observation. She always has this aloof, distant, Ice Queen quality to her. It works to her advantage in movies like “The Hours” and especially in “The Others.” When we find out she’s a ghost in that movie, it makes perfect sense. She has never seemed warm enough to be quite human. But warmth is necessary if you’re going to make family dysfunction into comedy, and warm she ain’t. The performance does worse than fall flat, it asks us to like an overwhelmingly unlikable person, and to live with her for two hours. By the end, you’ll be checking your watch.

Pauline’s fiance, Malcolm, is played by Jack Black. Black is clearly trying to expand his roles and prove he has some acting chops; I was impressed with his turn in “King Kong.” But here he’s cast as pretty much the same character he always plays – the over excited, slightly dimwitted, big hearted goof – just in a different kind of movie. The problem is with the writing, not the acting . Malcolm is the exact opposite of Kidman; all goofy lovableness, and absolutely no sophistication, subtlety, or wit. As Malcolm watches Pauline and Margot trade verbal barbs, he tries to remember the name of the bassist in Motley Crue. You wonder how this guy ever got involved in this family in the first place. And why he doesn’t run away screaming. He’s probably supposed to be the comic relief from all this family tension, and he’s certainly pathetic, but in all the wrong ways.

Pauline and Margot each have children, and their time onscreen offers at least a brief respite from the unpleasantness of their parents. They’ve obviously both been raised without sugar drinks or TV, and their collective social awkwardness adds up to something charmingly creepy. Claude, in particular, reminds me of “Juno” and “Superbad’s” Michael Cera, when he was just starting out on “Arrested Development.” He idolizes his mother and has no idea what a monster she is, poor kid.

“Margot at the Wedding” starts out unpleasant and never warms up to anything else. You might find it funny if your family is dysfunctional and has a large vocabulary; on the other hand, you might just find it that much more painful. If, on the other hand, you’re like me and you actually enjoy your family, then this is one wedding you’ll be glad you weren’t invited to.

Recommended

if your family’s hyperliterate and super dysfunctional, and looking in a mirror feels therapeutic.
if you’re a movie geek who just has to see everything by every indie film director, even Noah Baumbach.
if you’re a big Wes Anderson fan. Noah Baumbach is sort of a poor man’s Wes Anderson

Not Recommended