Rachel Getting Married

Boredom and annoyance, particularly when combined, lead to about 95% of the motivation for any blog post here at SA (The other 5% breaks down as follows: 2% self-adulation, 2% self-loathing, 1% gin). Since those powers combined tonight, I present you this brief review of the indie-tastic drama, Rachel Getting Married

(By the way, I know this movie came out over a year ago. Give me a break. I'm in law school, and I'm from Mississippi ... two good reasons to be a little behind).

Firstly, I must say that I'm really no fan of the Robert Altman-like, cinema verite, "tripods are for amateurs" style of cinematography. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't expect a feature film to have the look of being shot with cameramen plucked from my Intro to Broadcasting class. There were even a few scenes that were supposed to represent the perspective of the guy who was always filming everything on his consumer camera, and there was NO discernible difference between these shots and the others, other than lighting/contrast issues.

Also, I'm very pro interracial marriage (I hope to be party to one someday -- it's the only way my desired baby names will fly), but this ceremony was just ridiculous. A white-black marriage with an Indian theme, an Asian dance ritual, and featuring influences from at least 3 non-Western religious/spiritual movements. Is there any way an upper-middle class white woman, who's a doctor-to-be, can really be that Bohemian? Come on. My diversity lobe is exploding.

I'm not really sure why Anne Hathaway was nominated for awards for this performance. I didn't think there was anything special about the way she portrayed her character.

There were two scenes, in particular, where the writing and acting really pissed me off. The first was the first scene where we see Rachel and Kym ("You're not boxing me in, traditional spelling!") interact, when they're telling the story about their friend's stupid fantasy. The second was the "loading the dishwasher competition" scene. Both of these featured dialogue that was screaming to be believed, but just couldn't. "See, we're doing it how people normally interact .... right?" The problem is that this comes across every bit as forced and phony as the "I speak, you speak, and all in complete sentences" formula that plagues mainstream film and television.

To be fair, the film's probably worth a look. It provides a very real feeling of a family that has some serious issues, but does love one another, and that can be hard to find (but not for lack of trying). The scene where Rachel finally vents all her frustration with her just-out-of-rehab sister feels genuine.

Still, though, I can't help but think I just sat through a lecture on how films and progressive families are supposed to be. My response is the same as I gave an elderly man who recently told me he knew of a better way of tying shoes -- thanks, but I already got a handle on it.