Margot at the Wedding
Rating = B-
I like this a lot more
than some of the real critics did. Like “The Squid and the Whale,”
this movie has low production values and lots of talk between messed
up people, especially with parents who set a poor example for
children who are trying to figure out how to grow up; in these ways
the movie felt a lot like “The Squid and the Whale” although not as
good. Margot adds astonishingly to the dysfunctioning family's
problems as she bashes around in the days leading up to her sister's
wedding. Fortunately, sister Pauline understand Margot better than
she understands herself although the viewer comes to understand that
only in the final minutes as the movie is ending. The character of
Margot's son Claude reminds me greatly of the older brother in the
“Squid and the Whale”; to the extent these films are
autobiographical, it seems that director/writer Noah Baumbach had
quite some struggle growing up.
[2007-12-10]