Margot at the Wedding - 5

This is Noah Baumbach's (The Squid and the Whale, Mr. Jealousy, Kicking and Screaming) latest film. It continues Baumbach's tradition of dialogue oriented film that focus on interpersonal communication and issues of honesty and intimacy. While all of his previous film have done this in a funny and deep way, this film seems to lack the cohesion that make his type of film-making great. It is very much like a Woody Allen film (almost always associated with the culture of New York City where both of them are from), Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her son travel to the home of her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Pauline has decided to marry Malcolm (Jack Black). The rest of the film is then a series of conversations of conflict between sisters, cousins, and spouses as they work through there past and try to make their way forward. These characters live in the height of a therapeutic culture, and most viewers would probably say they think to much, especially about themselves and their skills at interpersonal relationships. It is hard to sympathize with them as they all seem rather selfish in their pursuit of happiness that they expect others to conform to. While the psychoanalysts might have plenty to work with here, it leaves a more general audience with very little.