Noah Baumbach is a director who I greatly admire for his naturalistic and quietly odd films. Having enjoyed The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha and While We're Young previously I was looking forward to watching Margot at the Wedding. However, I don't feel it matches up to the films I've seen from him before.
The grounded premise sees Margot (Nicole Kidman) visiting her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on the eve of her wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black). This allows for plenty of opportunity for the strained relationship between the sisters to come to the fore, which is complimented by assured acting from Kidman and Leigh. Black also puts in a funny, yet laidback performance where he occasionally shows bursts of anger.
The conversations did always manage to keep my attention despite not really going anywhere for the majority of the film. That is the biggest problem I had as the story just ambles along for the whole 91 minute runtime with such little purpose. Characters negotiating difficult relationships can be investing in its own right but it didn't seem to contribute to the larger whole of the story.
It's an aspect that is just clearly weaker than in his other works. The Squid and the Whale explores the difficulty of a divorce, Frances Ha picks apart the idea of passion over security, and While We're Young discussed the differences between generations. Margot at the Wedding feels like it does nothing in comparison.
Also all of the characters are unlikeable so it does make it difficult to care about them to any degree, as well as the consequences they suffer. Some of the drama does come together well towards the end, but it then leads to a bit of a non-ending where nothing is really resolved.
There are some positives though, as the use of handheld camera throughout helped with the naturalistic feel of the story, along with the perfectly-weighted dialogue.
Final Verdict
Unfortunately I can't give this a positive recommendation. Despite Kidman and Leigh's chemistry and the overall acting ability across the cast, the lack of purpose really hurts this film. I imagine it may bore most viewers because of that.
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