‘Margot at the Wedding’ is hard to look at, easy to like
NOAH BAUMBACH’S NEO-WOODY Allen misadventure of once-close sisters re-uniting is an utterly joyless debacle, the type of film that makes one cringe watching. When seeing “Margot at the Wedding,” viewers should be happy to be rid of the neurotic and irresponsible characters and head back out into the daylight.
Oh, did I mention that I actually like this picture?
This movie portrays Margot (Nicole Kidman) and Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) as they attempt to reconcile at the expense of everybody else around them. Newcomer Zane Pais plays Margot’s son Claude and his performance alone is worth watching. A role in which he is required to gradually realize his mother is a completely insane bitch, he pulls it off with aplomb in addition to being pitch-pefect in the requisite coming of age sub-plot.
Jack Black co-stars as Pauline’s oddly-facial haired fiancé. He wears his mustache but “it was meant as a joke.” Needless to say vacationing novelist Margot is too prim to accept this, and I only wish there were more scenes between the leads in this film. Particularly, the scenes with Black and Kidman are strong. Generally, Baumbach writes good scenes of conflict, where the root of every argument is made often very far below the surface. Leigh’s Pauline character is ambivalent and often passive with Margot, but that doesn’t mean she is willing to forgive and re-embrace the arrogant Margot.
Pauline may not be perfect and is all too bohemian for Margot nowadays, so the conflict during their reunion arises solely from Margot as she meddles, lies to her son and others and spreads rumors in a variety of fashions. Kidman exceeds in this performance, hopefully through with the paycheck phase of her career with recent schlock such as “The Interpreter”, “The Invasion” and “Bewitched”.
The movie is perhaps too under-stated and what actually happens may seem oddly cliché. But it works because everything falls into place well enough, and if over-the-top escapades were the norm in this film, then it would be a studio film, which it is not. Baumbach works counter to typical family comedy-drama fare. This and “The Squid and the Whale” are rare honest films, perhaps too honest for many. I only wish he had written more scenes specifically for Leigh’s character.
All in all, Baumbach brings a kind of horror movie-type honesty to this work.
No one dies, no one is much different when it ends, but they very well will be should there ever be a “Margot at the Funeral” sequel. Boasting great performances by the four main characters, Kidman, Leigh, Black and Pais are part of a strong ensemble cast.
KEN TARR is a student at Santa Monica College, an actor and writer and is also taller than 99 percent of the population. He can be reached telepathically or at trutoulouse@yahoo.com.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 21, 2007. Read the original PDF.