Rachel Getting Married (Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger, Rosemarie DeWitt) – Director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) has been focusing more on documentaries lately, having created Neil Young: Heart of Gold and Jimmy Carter Man from Plains. He returns to drama here in a tortured move that looks and feels like a documentary. A young woman fresh out of rehab returns home for the wedding of her sister, Rachel. Played by Anne Hathaway, who’s one of Hollywood’s hottest young actresses [Get Smart (2008), Becoming Jane (2007), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Brokeback Mountain (2005)], Kym is a smart-mouthed, recovering drug addict whose self-loathing becomes evident in many ways. Demme wants us to enter the film believing that Kym is recovered and returning home for a cheerful reunion with her family and to celebrate her sister’s nuptials. But all is not well at home. Kym’s addictions had a deep impact on her family because its effects were permanent. Her parents are divorced. His father is very loving, remarried and in denial; her mother (Winger) is remarried and strangely detached.
Meanwhile, the wedding is a multi-cultural, multi-racial event that brings together people of diversity of every type. But there is no tension here around race or personalities. The tension all surrounds Kym, who is both self-absorbed and the center of almost everyone’s attention. Demme’s film is shot with hand-held cameras throughout, giving it more of a home movie feel. The entire weekend is shot this way. We witness the dramas only weddings can create, but we also experience the melodramas of the family members. Demme’s pace is slow and deliberate. You feel like you attended the whole wedding and reception with the family. So it’s both exciting and, ultimately, a little boring. Anne Hathaway gives an excellent performance but, in my opinion, not as good as the Oscar buzz would suggest. The film is interesting and very “small,” so while it might become one of the year’s indie favorites, it is not in the league of the top independent movies I have seen this year.