flickernatic Review of Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

So boring - like being forced to attend the wedding from hell!

[2/10 · 27 January 2009]

I was attracted to this movie by the story - troubled addict, Kym, is plunged into a family wedding - and the prospect of an exceptional performance from Anne Hathaway. As it turned out, she was about the only thing worth seeing, and even then she seemed to be struggling under the weight of the director's (and writer's) pretensions. Apart from the shambolic camera work, presumably meant to reflect the tensions between the stereotyped 'characters', the mumbled dialogue (tho' this improved as the film progressed) and poor continuity (Kym crashes her mother's car into a large rock but later we see her stepping from the recovery truck with the car towed behind without a mark), this movie ignores the basic requirement of dramatic film-making - to tell a convincing story in a taught and engaging way. Too often we were exposed to long, dreary sequences that served no dramatic purpose. It seemed as if the makers' ran out of material with another hour of time to fill, so we got interminable shots of people dancing, excruciating wedding speeches, a bizarre dishwasher-filling contest, etc. We came close to walking out of this turkey, and if we'd had an aisle seat we would have done. So if you're bored and thinking of taking in this movie, stay home - at least you won't have paid for your dismal evening.