Margot at the Wedding

Writer/director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale)\ngoes Woody Allen one better with this dysfunctional-family dramedy that manages\nto be psychologically astute as well as wickedly funny. Margot (Nicole Kidman)\nand Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are estranged sisters reunited on the\noccasion of Pauline’s marriage at their childhood home somewhere in New England. (Jack Black plays the bridegroom as a rotund\nlittle ball of insecurity.) The needy, scattered Pauline doesn’t have her life\ntogether, but Margot is a real piece of work, lashing out at her sister, her\nbrother-in-law-to-be, and even Pauline’s redneck neighbors. The story\noccasionally embraces cliché and stretches credulity, but Baumbach’s incisive writing\nand direction tease out the character notes that underlie Margot’s cruelty,\nadding depth to a woman who becomes less and less sympathetic, spinning her\nwheels desperately in an effort to find traction in the failings of those\naround her. You feel for the gawky but sweet son she keeps in tow (even as she\ncuckolds his father), but not for Margot herself — it’s a rare American film\nthat revolves around such an unlikable character. Evocative cinematography — no\nshadows, only shades of gray — by Harris Savides rounds out a unique and unsettling\npackage. B+

This review originally appeared in the White Plains Times.