The Reviewer Was Delighted to See Rachel Getting Married

Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married is a documentary style look into a dysfunctional family where one of the daughters...presumably the normal one is getting married. Anne Hathaway plays the black sheep of the family, as she comes home from rehab to attend her sister Rachel’s (played well by Rosemarie Dewitt, except for her chemistry with her betrothed, played by Tunde Adebimpe) wedding. This would be a great film as it is shot as if we are a guest at the wedding, in the subjective point of view style. However, what drags the film down are the countless scenes of just the wedding bands playing and it becomes more of a jam session than a film. When Demme focuses on the story, it and the acting is for the most part excellent.

Anne Hathaway definitely earned a Best Actress nomination for her role as Kym, a recovering drug addict who becomes a major disruptive force in her sister's life. Bill Irwin and Debra Winger play the parents and they also do a fantastic job. I like Debra Winger and it was good to see her again. There are some gut wrenching, awkward moments during the course of the film where the conversations were s personal and intimate, it seemed like I was watching a stage play instead of a film. The actors were really listening and responding well to one another. I enjoyed how they were taking each other personally. Demme also does a good job of making the audience wonder whether Kym will fall off the wagon or not by giving her difficult circumstances to confront.

The only other drawback in the film is too many speeches at the wedding and rehearsal dinner. I bore easily at weddings and unless I have a personal stake in it, I tend to tune out, which after speech after speech is what I was doing. Except for Rachel's, which made me want to squirm, in a good way. My favorite quote in the film is Rachel saying to the guests at one point…”I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.” Not far from the truth.

I give Rachel Getting Married 3.5 out of 5 stars and is currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD.