doogal-68850
I lasted 30 minutes and that seemed like some form of Chinese Water Torture. I could see where it was heading. Not where I was heading that is for sure. I like Anne Hathaway and feel she does some great performances. But her character was so unlikable. I did not care whether she died. It reminded me of Mark Wahlberg in The Gambler. Again, I love his acting but his character was so selfish I would have been happy for him to meet his end early on. Looks like he would too. But her character "Kym" (wow what a cool way to spell Kim..not) was so selfish and self-absorbed and really felt sorry for herself. It did not help that the other main characters were like this too. She smoked so many cigarettes as well it is lucky she survived the movie. Her character reminded me of women I have worked with that do an awful job, cause trouble for others and have to be constantly pacified, and yet keep their jobs. This movie showed what is wrong with the world. People like "Kym" get way too much attention. Also the fact that whoever was holding the camera had DTs did not help. I pray I do not watch another movie like this again
tieman64
Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" stars Anne Hathaway as Kym, a young woman who has been recently released from a drug rehabilitation centre. Kym was at the wheel during an accident in which her brother Ethan died. Kym's mother blames Kym for Ethan's death, as does Kym's sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt). Guilt-ridden, and in the throes of a severe persecution complex, Kym clashes with her family members, particularly her sister, who blames Kym for "hogging all the attention" in the aftermath of Ethan's death. By the film's end, mother, father and siblings learn to forgive, forget and move past traumas. Cue hugs.Reminiscent of "Ordinary People", "Girl Interrupted", "A Woman Under the Influence" and "Margot at the Wedding", "Rachel Getting Married" also finds Demme attempting an aesthetic evocative of Robert Altman and John Cassavetes. The film has been praised for its "edginess" and "realism", but too often assaults us with contrivances, clichés and overcooked moments in which Hollywood actors contort their faces and strain desperately to convey DEEP EMOTIONS. The film's pretence at being "naturalistic" rubs awkwardly against what is super-charged melodrama. When a daughter punches her mother in the face and crashes a Mercedes into a tree, it's hard not to giggle. Throw in surprise pregnancies, alcoholism, sibling hatred, divorce, anorexia, sexual molestation, two car crashes and dead kids, and you have a movie that plays like a tabloid talk-show. Influenced by Hal Ashby's "The Landlord" (Demme adores Ashby), "Rachel Getting Married" attempts to sketch a portrait of a multi-cultural, post-racial America. And so the film is packed to the brim with whites partying alongside African Americans, Asians, and Indians. Bizarrely, though not surprisingly (America is in no meaningful way post-racial), none of these black characters are given significant roles or input into the film's central drama. African Amerians remain at the level of good-natured, smiling ciphers, Demme portraying them with the same benign attitude (singers, dancers, Bible-junkies etc) common in minstrel shows. "Multiculturalism" is still coded as wallpaper for white, upper-middle-class, suburbanite issues.Demme, incidentally, has throughout his career made an effort to exhibit a certain "sensitivity". He made two documentaries on Haiti, one about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, dealt with African American slaves in "Beloved" and sketched a character in "Philadelphia" whose parents were "totally fine with his homosexuality". In "Rachel", Demme packs his film with whites wearing saris, musicians playing sitars, wedding cakes shaped like Indian elephants, Orthodox Christian icons, Jamaican reggae singers, jazz musicians, belly dancers and people yelling "L'chaim!" whilst making toasts. For Demme, race is "no big deal", and he's right, but the film nevertheless has a certain engineered feel. You're always aware of the forced political correctness, a saintly stance which clashes awkwardly with the film's cold shouldering of Rachel's fiancé (Tunde Adebimpe) and his family."Rachel Getting Married" was written by Jenny Lumet, daughter of Sidney Lumet. It contains several "musical interludes" (and references to Neil Young), some of which recall Demme's many concert films. Like watching the fatal crash of a clown car, it's both riveting and ridiculous.7/10 – Worth one viewing.
