Film Reviews

Margot at the Wedding

• Rating:
• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh
• Details: USA / 91mins (16)

After writing The Life Aquatic Of Steve Zissou and writing/directing The Squid And The Whale, it seemed that Noah Baumbach could rival Wes Anderson in the quirky stakes. However, they were the pride before the fall as Margot At The Wedding is a self-indulgent, rambling nothing. Kidman plays Margot, a self-centred neurotic writer who is separated from her husband (John Turturro) and having an affair with Dick (Ciaran Hinds). She arrives at her childhood home for the wedding of her sister Pauline (Leigh) who is marrying the unemployed Malcolm (Black). Estranged for years, this is the last chance the sisters have to reconcile, as Pauline blames Margot's sharp tongue for the disintegration of her previous marriage - Margot's tongue hasn't softened, however, and she voices her critical thoughts of Malcolm. As the wedding day looms closer, tensions in the house rise as secrets and home truths come to the fore. With The Squid And The Whale, Noah Baumbach allowed us a sneaky peak into his dysfunctional family and continues along the same vein here, albeit taking a more intimate and nastier approach. In doing so, he forgot all that made his previous outing such a success - Margot At The Wedding is humourless and devoid of interesting characters. Baumbach tries to pass Margot off as an original creation, but she's really just Jeff Daniels from Squid... with breasts. Where we could laugh and pity Daniels there, Margot is one of the most annoying and sympathetic characters to ever grace film: we're supposed to root for her, but we're left wishing only misery upon her.

Review by Gavin Burke