Margot at the Wedding

Margot at the Wedding 2007

• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Seen by this director: The Squid and the Whale
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, Flora Cross, Ciarán Hinds, John Turturro, Halley Feifer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Nicole Kidman – Big Little Lies, Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Lion, Genius, Queen of the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Australia, The Golden Compass, Fur, The Interpreter, Birth, Cold Mountain, The Human stain, The Hours, Dogville, The Birthday Girls, The Others, Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Billy Bathgate

o   Jennifer Jason-Leigh – Annihilation, The Hateful Eight, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, Fast Times at Ridgemont High

o   Jack Black – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Orange County, Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld

o   Ciarán Hinds – First Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter, Life During War Time, Hustle, Hallam Foe, Amazing Grace, Calendar Girls, Road to Perdition, Titanic Town, Cold Lazarus, Some Mother’s Son, Mary Reilly, Seaforth

o   John Turturro – God’s Pocket, The Miracle at St Ana, Flight of the Conchords, Romance & Cigarettes, Secret Window, The Man Who Cried, O Brother Where Art Thou, Cradle Will Rock, The Big Lebowski, Clockers, Barton Fink, Jungle Fever, Miller’s Crossing, Mo’ Better Blues, Desperately Seeking Susan

o   Halley Feifer – Flight of the Conchords, The Squid and the Whale

• ·       Why? I remember it as good.
• Seen: Once before. Now: 17 September 2022       

       Margot (Kidman) and her son Claude (Pais) have come to her parental home for the wedding of her sister Pauline (Jason Leigh) to Malcolm (Black). They have not spoken for years, and their hostilities are still close to the surface though they claim to be happy to see each other. Margot is not impressed by the loutish, depressed loser Malcolm, and it seems she’s in the process of leaving her own husband Jim (Turturro).

       For some reason I’ve been seeing a lot of films about wealthy white dysfunctional American families lately. Probably because there are a lot of them, often with actors I like. There’s no doubt that the acting here is first-rate, but I don’t remember the film being so bizarre. That’s probably why I liked it the first time. These people are seriously disturbed.

       I really don’t know what to think this time. I’ll decide the rating tomorrow.

       It’s now tomorrow and because it’s so bizarre I’ve decided to give it 

4* of 5