THEATRICAL REVIEW: MARGOT AT THE WEDDING (2007)

Going to see MARGOT AT THE WEDDING this morning, there were a couple warning signs.

First, the guy in the box office said as I bought my ticket “I really liked this, but it seems not everyone does”.

As a big fan of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach, I wasn’t really worried. If anything I’m biased toward it.

Then, once inside the theatre, someone getting a seat said “Wow, they just told me that a lot of people have been walking out of this.”

Of all my years of going to movies, I’ve rarely heard such bad buzz inside of a theatre before a film began.

But, as the film played, I could kind of understand how people might walk out.

All the characters are extremely unlikable. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman are both horrible people, to everyone around them. That said, they both give wonderful performances. You really believe that they are sisters, even if you don’t exactly want to go on vacation with them.

As for the film itself, with the title, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, Baumbach was going for an Eric Rohmer type feel to it. Leigh’s character is named Pauline, from Rohmer’s PAULINE AT THE BEACH. But, Rohmer was never as unpleasant as this. Maybe Marie Riviere in SUMMER / THE GREEN RAY, but that was only one character.

There is some really great dialogue here. It is a film I may have to see again just to figure out what I think of it. Although, it isn’t a film I really WANT to see again.

I do have to wonder if Baumbach is taking a Woody Allen like direction in his career. His first film, KICKING AND SCREAMING still stands as one of the best films of the 90’s. Very funny, with some truly beautiful moments. MR. JEALOUSY was another quite funny tribute to the French New Wave. Even HIGHBALL, a film Baumbach took his name off, has some great lines in it (the running gag about forgetting to pay for a Sally Strothers orphan).

But with THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and MARGOT, it seems he has attempted to turn more serious, like Woody Allen did with INTERIORS. While many critics consider SQUID to be his best, I much prefer his earlier films.

All that aside though, it is often more interesting to see a film like this, from a filmmaker who tries something, and may not entirely hit the mark, than it is to see most other filmmakers just turn out some routine and forgettable picture. Like MARGOT or not, it isn’t forgettable.