Rachel Getting Married

This is a great look into family dynamics surrounding addiction. I am a therapist and use it in groups on family systems.

This is a good recovery related movie all the way around

Who says a wedding movie has to be romantic, or funny, or heart warming? Do all good movies with Christmas have to be joyous? Sometimes it's the big events that set off the personal landslides that destroy families. Life Happens.This is a nice big well off, liberal family and one of the two daughters is getting married. The other is on a break from rehab, and apparently the brother was killed in a car accident when the latter drove the car into a lake. It's not a happy family, there are issues. But they try, it's the best that can be expected from any of us.Being a nice liberal family, in Connecticut, this is a rainbow event, where every community has an ambassador, although I didn't see anyone distinctly Muslim or gay, but I wasn't really looking... Oddly enough, the script writers seem to have forgotten to provide lines for most of the black people marrying into the family. Minor oversight, no? It's mostly white people playing games and laughing and arguing, and every now and then a black person says something you might or might not be able to hear over the noise of whatever's going on. The wedding itself is dressed in curry, although there don't seem to be any Indians (Eastern or Indigineous American) either. It's a very American idea of diversity, where everything comes down to clothes and food and music, and the people, well, you know, we coudn't invite everybody, there was only so much food...One reviewer, an apparent addict in recovery, says this is a movie from a recovering addicts point of view, and that may well be the case. I agree with others that the hand held camera gets tired. I didn't think that "A Christmas Tale" was THAT good, but this is yet another movie that makes the French view of dysfunctional families so much more entertaining. Watching a group of white actors act out a film studded handsomely with non-white actors, while the non-white folks have almost no script time, became so distracting that I began to tire of what became a self righteous dirge of a film.People are not wall paper and ornaments. If you're going to make a film with non-white actors, use them. If you're not going to use them, then at least be honest and make an all white movie. Making some big serious hoot and holler film with a UN cast, but with only the white people talking is far more than silly in this day and age. It's pretentious and hypocritical.

I was terribly surprised and saddened to see all of the negative reviews that have been written up for this movie. After skimming quite a few of them, I was surprised to see that some of the reviewers seemed to have missed the point of the film.Rachel Getting Married is certainly not an action film. There are no explosions, guns, dead bodies, ghosts, or slimy monsters. Nor is it a romantic comedy. I think perhaps the attention from the academy- whose selections are often more conventional and showy- might have caused many people to have false expectations for the film. Fans of other academy favorites, like "A Beautiful Mind," or "Gladiator," might be disappointed with this movie. My father, for example, would probably never sit through this movie- neither would my brother, for that matter. Its just not how either of them would want to spend his Friday night. I don't think everyone should like this movie, but I think that it should be judged with appropriate expectations in mind.I noticed that one reviewer mentioned that he/she could not enjoy the film because he/she found Anne Hathaway's character to be so unlikeable. I have to wonder if that viewer watched the movie all the way through. Rachel Getting Married is a portrait of a family faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of forgiveness. The director shows us who this woman is through the relationships she has, rather then through her actions. In the beginning of the film I also despised this character- she appears to be a narcissistic, selfish woman obsessed with her own flaws, greedily feeding off of the attention of everyone around her. As the movie progresses, however, the director mercilessly peels off layer after layer of the recovering addict- and as the minutes tick by, the viewers get swept up into the emotional turmoil of the film. I found myself empathizing with the character, and loving her despite her tremendous flaws. Once the film had ended, I realized why it was necessary to react violently to her in the beginning.I believe that the director was trying to remind the audience what it truly means to be a family, and how difficult it can be to forgive someone you love, even when you know that they are still punishing themselves. Rachel Getting Married is hard to watch, perhaps because many viewers must have people in their life that they cannot bring themselves to forgive- including themselves. How many of us have had a brother, and uncle, a parent, who did something so despicable, so terrible, that we could not look at them without being reminded of it? How many of us have known addicts who have done terrible, terrible things? How many of us avoid these people, not trusting them, not trusting ourselves, because the love we feel for them is involuntary, and leaves us vulnerable to their potential future mistakes? Rachel Getting Married forces us to examine this relationship- to experience it throughout the course of Rachel's wedding.As far as the movie being pretentious- I thought that it actually took a few shots at the pretentious, liberal, intellectual family (the unexplained cultural theme of the wedding itself, for example, I thought particularly funny). But perhaps I was only able to appreciate this because of my own experiences with privileged families (both liberal and conservative) growing up.This film is not for everyone, but I thought it a beautiful and skillful portrait of a woman- not as an individual, but as a daughter and a sister. As a person whose actions effect those around her- as a person who desperately wants to be forgiven. The performances are especially breathtaking, and the overall message is relevant. I loved it.

I ordered this movie as soon as it came out, but I watched it for the first time yesterday. This movie is a about a girl who leaves rehab for a little bit to be a part of her sister Rachel's wedding. Anne Hathaway is very good and believable as the girl leaving rehab, who must deal with her family and deal with a tragedy from the past. I thought the sister Rachel was very good as well. It is very difficult to deal with a drug addict and the sister Rachel is great at playing that part. Other than these two women, I thought the movie was average at best. I didn't like the dad and mom at all. The mom was showcased as a heartless woman and the dad was actually very strange in my opinion. I thought the movie had a lot of cliches and I thought the director didn't show the emotions of family and friends enough. If it wasn't for Anne Hathaway, this movie would go no where. She was great.

Acting of the two sisters excellent; camera work too confusing

Just buying advice (i'm no film critic!)Well acted film I really enjoyed. Def worth buying, and I will watch again.Nice to see anne hathaway in this type of role.The film was 'real' family drama based around a wedding.I connected completely with the characters...not many films can do that.

This movie not very good bit slow

after the rave reviews of Hathaway in this film i was looking forward to the dvd but somehow never wanted to watch it after i bought it.with good reason, as it turns out.the wonderfully layered story of the relatioship between the 2 sisters and their (now divorced) parents is completely drowned out it the multi-culti messiness of this 'alternative' wedding.Kym (Hathaway) is the 'bad' sister with a gigantic chip on her shoulder and her older sister Rachel (the bride) is too preoccupied with herself and her ancient grudges against her freak of a sister to be able to feel or attend to her needs.then there is the over protective father who always hovers and the conspicuously absent mother - who joins the film much later ( a great Debra Winger, wonderful to see her again!) and has her guilt and unforgivingness to deal with.unfortunately the tension which builds up very nicely in parts is then sacrificed in favour of overlong and totally irrelevant wedding speeches, or by showing extra long and extra close up shots of the carneval of wedding guests when dancing.at that stage the film becomes a farce, i wondered if it was a showcase for some up and coming actors. very annoying.one sighs with relief when the camera return to the wonderfully present and gripping face of Ann Hathaway.so - without all the sidetracking action and the boring string of 'colourful' guests it would have been a good film. as it is - because of the marvelous leads- it's still worth watching.oh, and before i forget - beware of the aweful music! it really gets on your nerves.

A good film. If your a Anne Hathaway fan then you'll want to see this one