Film

Rachel Getting Married alternates moments of stunning sincerity with others of forehead-slapping shamelessness. Chalk it up to good direction redeeming an uneven screenplay (by Sidney Lumet’s daughter, Jenny)—or is it the other way around? A familiar premise—dysfunctional family reunites for a wedding—is enlivened by interesting choices: The couple, a WASP-y Jew and an African-American, hold a Hindu-themed reception, which, in Demme’s least explicable touch, includes guest appearances by Robyn Hitchcock and Sister Carol. The parents’ divorce is taken as a given; the interracial union goes boldly uncommented upon, even while—as detractors have pointed out—the film accords no inner lives to its African-American characters.

Like Margot at the Wedding, Rachel is initially a movie about two sisters: Kym (Hathaway), the recovering addict come home, and Rachel (DeWitt), the bride-to-be eager to escape her family. In the film’s signature scene, Kym delivers a fantastically narcissistic toast to her sister. Why someone doesn’t just slap her is a matter addressed by the movie’s most cringeworthy contrivance; no spoilers here, but the dishwasher scene should be watched with a clothespinned nose. Fans have pegged Rachel as Demme’s return to the glory days of Something Wild, but this is something new—and darker. And like a family reunion with its share of embarrassing moments, it may be worth attending all the same.