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Rachel Getting Married

Director: Jonathan Demme

Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Bill
Irwin

Running Time: 114 min.

I have to say I'm not a fan
of dramatic family movies.Usually I end up bored, as the situations are very
far removed from anything I have ever experienced and will ever be likely to
experience.

But I really enjoyed ‘Rachel
Getting Married'. The movie explores the idea of a young woman coming home from
rehab for two days, for her elder sister's wedding at the family home. Anne
Hathaway (‘The Princess Diaries', ‘The Devil Wears Prada') is brilliant as Kim,
the youngest daughter, dealing with various addictions and demons in her life.
The way she portrays her struggle to understand herself and her place in the
family is beautifully acted.

As Rachel, Rosemarie DeWitt (‘Cinderella Man') portrays the other side of Kim's problems: living with a sibling that has
these particular issues. Her character is very human and while there are times
when, as the viewer, you feel that she is being unfair to Kim, her portrayal of
Rachel allows you to see why she is acting this way. The father is played very
well by Bill Irwin (‘Lady in the Water', ‘The Manchurian Candidate') and he is
in many ways the hub that the sisters orbit around. It is by him that they both
feel abandoned and disregarded by to some degree and him that they both
struggle to explain themselves to.

As the movie progresses you
find out why Kim is in rehab and all the emotional baggage that brings with it,
both for her and for her family. I think it explored the relationship between
the sisters very well - how both of them abandoned by their parents and each
other in different ways, and how they coped with this. The relationship that
the two sisters have with their father (their parents are divorced and the
mother plays a crucial but less visible role) is especially well portrayed,
with great depth by all actors concerned. The stress of the upcoming wedding,
the fact that the involved family members of the bride and groom have never met
before and everyone's implicit knowledge that Kim has ‘issues' makes for a very
emotional setting. Again, the movie doesn't veer into feel-good, unrealistic
terrain but keeps to a very matter-of-fact and honest path.

There are times when the
dialogue was literally hard to follow, as the music or background noise was a
little too loud and thus overwhelmed the speech. This is probably the only
thing about the movie I didn't like!

I highly recommend this movie
to anyone who enjoys films that explore family dynamics in situations that are
emotionally demanding and revealing. And anyone who thinks Anne Hathaway can only act in popcorn movies!