Margot at the Wedding

Make sure you have your say at urbanmoms.ca!  Have you seen Margot at the Wedding yet?  Let us know what you thought in the comments section below & be sure to rate the number of stars you would give to Margot at the Wedding.  Five Stars – Run, don’t walk, to the theatre.  Four Stars – Worth seeing.  Three Stars – Not bad.  Two Stars – Marginal.  One Star – Do not waste your time.

It is so very rare that I hear my name on tv or in movies.  Especially rare is seeing it with the wonderful, silent "t"….word of advice to people naming children out there, put a few silent letters in your child’s name & then sit back & enjoy the world butchering the name for the rest of said child’s life.  It is just soooooo much fun!!  No really, honestly, I like my name.  It is uncommon, but not odd.  I just wish I didn’t ever have to hear another "Marg-it" or "Marg-et".  And don’t even get me started on the lovely elementary school nickname that some "genius" boy thought of (maggot).  But I digress.

On DVD Now

Kath requested last week that I review Margot at the Wedding, & I love a good challenge, so I couldn’t disappoint.  It stars Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, & Jack Black, so I figured it has a pretty good cast, why not give it a chance.  This movie has been on my radar since before it came out in theatres, & I have to admit it is because of the name.  Doesn’t everyone feel a bit strange when they hear their name in a movie or on tv?  Maybe its just me, because it so rarely happens.  And unfortunately, the "Margots" portrayed on tv & the big screen, have not been entirely endearing characters.  Neurotic?  Yes.  Self-centered?  Yep.  General pains in the ass?  Yessiree.  Let’s just say that Nicole Kidman’s Margot does nothing to break those stereotypes.

The basic story is that Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a successful writer who is returning to her hometown, with her pre-teen son, for her younger sister Pauline’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wedding.  Margot brings her destructive personality to basically wreak havoc on all involved.  This movie is all about family dynamics, particularly the sister relationship between Margot & Pauline & the parent child relationship between Margot & her son Claude. 

I don’t have sisters.  I have cousins who are like sisters & friends who are like sisters, but I know in the end it is not the same.  There is baggage (both good & bad) that you carry with a sister that you can never carry with someone who doesn’t share the same parents as you.  So watching Margot & Pauline’s relationship implode on screen was a bit foreign to me.  I  kept thinking "they both say they are each other’s best or closest friend, but behave so unbelievably to each other."  Pauline is just so desperate for her older sister’s approval at anything, & Margot won’t, or is incapable, of giving it.  As far as the parent-child relationship between Margot & Claude, it was hard to tell who was which at times.  Margot came off as so selfish in most of her conversations with Claude, more concerned with her own feelings than those of her son.  I was a bit shocked at some of the topics that she would discuss with him, her son playing the role of confidante, which frankly I found totally unsettling.

I hate to use the word dysfunctional to describe this family, as I sort of wonder what a "functional" family is?  We all have strange family dynamics.  Some are just "stranger" than others.  We all learn to put up with each other’s quirks & eccentricities, in order to maintain some sort of balance in our family.  It is a constant give & take.  Unfortunately for Pauline, her sister doesn’t give much in return for what she takes, or destroys for that matter.

As far as the movie goes, it feels like you drop in on these people’s lives for a small amount of time, entering in the middle of the story & leaving somewhere a little farther along.  So if you are looking for closure on any of the characters, don’t expect it.  It is truly a character study with almost a voyeuristic quality to it.  The acting is fantastic, particularly by the two female leads, who could be real life sisters both physically & emotionally.  I enjoyed the performances, but overall I can’t really say that I enjoyed the movie.  I like a little more closure, & frankly a little more escapism in my movies.  This definitely would have been a tough sell to get the hubby to watch, even if I told him that Jack Black was in it.  It was not terrible, because the performances are fantastic, but unless you are looking for some fairly depressing fare with pretty much no closure, then I wouldn’t bother.

So, thanks to Kath for the suggestion for this week’s movie review.  Hopefully this helps you out.  My task for all of you is to let me know if there are others you would like me to review & I’ll see what I can do.  Getting out to the theatre may be a bit of a stretch right now, but if it’s on DVD then I’m totally game!

Oh ya, & I totally cringed every time they said my name in the movie!  I just couldn’t help it!  That Margot was such a b#@ch!!!