Rachel Getting Married

Naturalistic and expertly acted, Rachel Getting Married is a good piece of sullen, melodramatic filmmaking. It's not often that a movie features so many performers who can cry on cue, and the fact that that's the case in this film makes its emotional punch that much more effective. The rumors are true: Anne Hathaway does give an excellent performance in a role that is very different from anything she's done before. However, I'd like to remind people that Hathaway hasn't played the nice, scrappy persona in every film she's starred in. Although her screen time in Brokeback Mountain was somewhat limited, she still managed to pull off what I thought was a startling (yet seamless) character transformation, from cheery southernbelle to a bitter, unfeeling businesswoman (she is particularly great in the telephone conversation with Heath Ledger's character, towards the end of the film). She is equally great in her lead role in Rachel Getting Married; there are so many reasons that can lead the audience to blame her character, Kym, for the mistakes she's made (including an event that is way more tragic than your average drug-addict screw-up), yet at the same time, it's so easy to feel for Kym, because we see the events from her point of view, and we can sense every time she is being judged, even with something as simple as a mere skeptical glance. Of course, even with Hathaway's great work, this would not work without adept performances from the supporting members of the cast, and thankfully, that is exactly what we get from them.

The fact that the film's dramatic moments are so effective makes it a bit of a shame that some of the moments involving the logistics of the wedding drag so much. Granted, this is part of what makes Rachel Getting Married such a realistic experience at the movie theater, but there are three moments in particular that are longer than they should be. The first of these involves the toasting during the rehearsal dinner. While Kym's toast is as perfectly awkward as it should be (and of course, Hathaway is in top form in this scene), the length of the other toasts could have been trimmed. Then there's the dishwasher competition, which does conclude with a severely impacting and relevant emotional event, but takes too long to get there. Finally, they definitely went overboard with the dancing sequences after the wedding. Rachel Getting Married could have easily been 20 minutes shorter and a better film at that length.

With that being said, though, this is still a remarkably compelling dramatic piece, with a lead performance that is so far among the year's best. I'm just not as surprised by it as other people are - Hathaway has always been very good. Some extra work on the trimming done at the editing room could have made Rachel Getting Married an above-average cinematic offering, but it is still worth seeing.

6/10