Sunday, November 25, 2007
A+E, Movies, Reviews
Kidman and Leigh sparkle in ‘Margot at the Wedding’
Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh in “Margot at the Wedding”
CREDIT: Ken Regan
“MARGOT AT THE WEDDING”
Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Directed by
Rated R
Regal Tara 4 Cinemas
Director Noah Baumbach’s script for
“Margot at the Wedding” plays like an adaptation of the glossary of a
psychology textbook, with assorted quirks randomly allocated to various
characters. It’s a big comedown for the creator of “The Squid and the
Whale,” one of 2005’s best films. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason
Leigh are terrific as rivalrous siblings, but their numerous neuroses
seem more like acting exercises than plot points.
Pauline (Leigh) is marrying Malcolm
(Jack Black), an unemployed artist-musician whose fear of rejection
keeps him from putting his work in the marketplace. After years of
estrangement Margot (Kidman) opts to attend the wedding and mend
fences. She brings along her androgynous adolescent son, Claude (Zane
Pais), who’s around the same age as Pauline’s daughter, Ingrid (Flora
Cross).
The sisters fall into their old
patterns. Margot, a successful author, is bossy and hypercritical,
particularly of Pauline’s fiancé. Pauline reaches out in love and has
her confidences betrayed, even though Margot loves her too, in her way.
Once Margot learns Pauline is having Malcolm’s baby everyone, including
Malcolm, soon knows.
Most of the dialogue sounds natural enough to
be improvised. Black has some serious moments, but is largely there for
comic relief.
Some critics have found “Margot at the
Wedding” a devastating satire of the idle rich. It may have had that
potential, but in its present, scattershot form, the film is nothing
more than a showcase for two gifted actresses (full disclosure: Leigh
is the filmmaker’s wife) and a collection of ideas waiting to be
organized into a coherent screenplay. TWO STARS—Steve Warren