Indie Drama #4: Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married (2008, directed by Jonathan Demme) is a an indie vanity project directed by a 64 year old man.

Plot: Kym (Anne Hathaway - admittedly, kind of a crush) is a drug addict in rehab. She goes on leave to reunite with her family for her sister's wedding. Her psychological problems prompt family drama.

(photo from About.com)

I was struck immediately by something I thought I'd never have to see again. Ambitious teen dialogue. The first twenty minutes show Kym, who acts like a less-mature Juno, throw increasingly pedantic jabs at her parents and rehab mates. Anything from topical humor to uncalled-for sarcasm: "oh. Rachel AND Emma are gonna be there? That's not exactly what I call the picture-perfect image of comfort" - Hahaha. Wait. Is that even a joke? She said it like it was a joke. It gets worse. You know those shows where 16 year old kids make jokes about Marshall McLuhan and offhandedly comment things like "that necklace makes you look like Rita Hayworth, (even though Rita Hayworth died before I was born and I'm fucking 16)," well that's what the beginning of this movie is like.

Basically it's Dawson's Creek. Thankfully that's just the beginning. The car runs out of gas before, distracted by their argument about T.Rex's influence on The Pixies, they go flying headlong into, well, Dawson's creek.

(photo from eonline)

Then we move on to normal Father of the Bride wedding planning drama. Wherein Kym suffers the passive blows of an overprotective family. Misunderstood, feigning for nicotine, and retreating rapidly into smug adolescence, she steps on toes and makes a mess of an otherwise ordinary wedding. This is basically the whole deal. But for the sake of making matters more confusing for undeserving viewers, the soundtrack is completely out of whack, there's subtle and pretentious racial commentary, a wedding dance scene that's so drawn out it rivals only The Deer Hunter, and of course, one very curiously cast lead singer.

(photo from aceshowbiz)

Rachel's husband is black, along with the rest of his family. (He has a token white guy friend and token Asian guy friend, just for kicks.) They kind of play the foil to Rachel's American Beauty family. Not once is there any mention of race, but it's plainly apparent to everyone in the audience. I felt like the movie was saying to me, "See. See how it's not a big deal?" to which I respond, "I never thought it was a big deal til you weirdly put 20 black people and 20 white people into a room and then tapped my shoulder and said, 'See...'"

Next problem: the music. Tunde Adebimpe plays the husband, who I think has about 3 lines in the movie but is in about half the scenes. Tunde is the lead singer of TV on the Radio, not exactly an actor, but then again who really is? There's more. Reggae, generic African beats, saxophone jazz, a singer that looks like David Bowie's long lost half-retarded brother, and a guitar and drums two-piece that's basically Fuck Buttons. What's all this crap for? If the director was 28, straight out of film school and just a huge TVOTR fan then I'd understand. But Jonathan Demme is 64 years old! I highly doubt he spends evenings slamming to Deerhunter in his basement.

Alright, I think that's all the specific complaints I have the stomach for today. To sum it up, this is a fine little movie. Everything about it is small. Small setting, small message, small impression it left on me, small amount of quality. But I can't say it's awful. Watch it if you like skinny brats, early 30's female family drama, or think mediocre, completely unnecessary movies are the light of your life.

P.S. I will not be anxiously awaiting Jenny Lumet's next screenplay and since when is Anna Deveare Smith an actress? New thing every day...new thing everyday.

Netflix rating: I'm gonna go with a generous 3 stars
RIYL: I don't know. How about this, it's absolutely nothing like: Ran, Live Free or Die Hard, Desk Set
Youtube: trailer