Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Writer/director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) goes Woody Allen one better with this dysfunctional-family dramedy that manages to be psychologically astute as well as wickedly funny. Margot (Nicole Kidman) and Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are estranged sisters reunited on the occasion of Pauline’s marriage at their childhood home somewhere in New England. (Jack Black plays the bridegroom as a rotund little ball of insecurity.) The needy, scattered Pauline doesn’t have her life together, but Margot is a real piece of work, lashing out at her sister, her brother-in-law-to-be, and even Pauline’s redneck neighbors. The story occasionally embraces cliché and stretches credulity, but Baumbach’s incisive writing and direction tease out the character notes that underlie Margot’s cruelty, adding depth to a woman who becomes less and less sympathetic, spinning her wheels desperately in an effort to find traction in the failings of those around her. You feel for the gawky but sweet son she keeps in tow (even as she cuckolds his father), but not for Margot herself — it’s a rare American film that revolves around such an unlikable character. Evocative cinematography — no shadows, only shades of gray — by Harris Savides rounds out a unique and unsettling package. B+

This review originally appeared in the White Plains Times.