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]