People seem to find a lot of things to dislike about this movie--the shaky camera work, the overlong wedding celebration, the diversity of the wedding guests. I noticed these things also, but I ended up liking it for the most part. From the very beginning, Anne Hathaway's performance drew me in, and it was strong enough to help me overlook some of the little annoyances.
Hathaway's character is coming home from rehab on the weekend of her sister's backyard wedding, and it turns out to be very stressful and melodramatic. This could have been a lot less fun to watch if these people argued like Jerry Springer guests, but they air their grievances very tastefully.
So who are these people? You have to guess a little bit about their backgrounds, because the movie doesn't hit you over the head with everything, and thank goodness. There are no lazy techniques like voice-over or flashback. At times, they seem very humble and down-to-earth, certainly well-educated, and probably wealthy. There were a couple clichés that would fit with this upper class stereotype--Anne's character is spoiled, self-absorbed, and has a drug problem. Debra Winger as the mother has a few things going on with her, but she inhabits her role so subtly, I don't even know how to boil it down to a single-phrase description. The dad had no backbone. Yet they all profess a fierce love for one another. Is the filmmaker trying to show that their family bond transcends the moments of anger (even getting physical in one scene), or do they end up hugging and saying "I love you" to keep up appearances as an upper class Conneticut family?
And then there are the rest of the friends and family.
You will see other comments and postings on this site about how everyone at the wedding represented a different ethnicity, and all were musically talented. One scene places the setting as in or near Stamford. So you can guess that maybe some of the characters work or study in the music department of a nearby university, and the party is at Rachel's house this weekend. I did find myself asking some of the same questions I've read in other comments while watching the reception scene--it just seemed too forcibly diverse.
At the end of the movie, Hathaway goes back to rehab. Was she only just out for the weekend? I thought I had heard them say had completed rehab? You get the sense that even though not everyone has said they are sorry for the arguments that came earlier, that some healing has taken place. It is a little open-ended as to what the future will hold for Hathaway's character, but that's realistic enough (and besides, critics LOVE open-ended film conclusions. See: Graduate, Verdict, Elephant). That's fine. We don't need everything solved for us. I'm not a sister or an addict, and I've never had a loved one who is an addict, but I enjoyed watching this movie. Shaky camera work doesn't scare me away.
Hathaway's character is coming home from rehab on the weekend of her sister's backyard wedding, and it turns out to be very stressful and melodramatic. This could have been a lot less fun to watch if these people argued like Jerry Springer guests, but they air their grievances very tastefully.
So who are these people? You have to guess a little bit about their backgrounds, because the movie doesn't hit you over the head with everything, and thank goodness. There are no lazy techniques like voice-over or flashback. At times, they seem very humble and down-to-earth, certainly well-educated, and probably wealthy. There were a couple clichés that would fit with this upper class stereotype--Anne's character is spoiled, self-absorbed, and has a drug problem. Debra Winger as the mother has a few things going on with her, but she inhabits her role so subtly, I don't even know how to boil it down to a single-phrase description. The dad had no backbone. Yet they all profess a fierce love for one another. Is the filmmaker trying to show that their family bond transcends the moments of anger (even getting physical in one scene), or do they end up hugging and saying "I love you" to keep up appearances as an upper class Conneticut family?
And then there are the rest of the friends and family.
You will see other comments and postings on this site about how everyone at the wedding represented a different ethnicity, and all were musically talented. One scene places the setting as in or near Stamford. So you can guess that maybe some of the characters work or study in the music department of a nearby university, and the party is at Rachel's house this weekend. I did find myself asking some of the same questions I've read in other comments while watching the reception scene--it just seemed too forcibly diverse.
At the end of the movie, Hathaway goes back to rehab. Was she only just out for the weekend? I thought I had heard them say had completed rehab? You get the sense that even though not everyone has said they are sorry for the arguments that came earlier, that some healing has taken place. It is a little open-ended as to what the future will hold for Hathaway's character, but that's realistic enough (and besides, critics LOVE open-ended film conclusions. See: Graduate, Verdict, Elephant). That's fine. We don't need everything solved for us. I'm not a sister or an addict, and I've never had a loved one who is an addict, but I enjoyed watching this movie. Shaky camera work doesn't scare me away.