Oct 2, 2008 9:54 am US/Pacific
'Rachel Getting Married'
NEW YORK (AP) ―
The cinematic equivalent of a wedding that just will not end. The movie features a powerful performance from Anne Hathaway, but the story is undone by the self-indulgence of director Jonathan Demme, who loiters interminably on some scenes.
Demme's detours into documentaries serve him well as he crafts a loose, docudrama style that infuses great authenticity into this anguished reunion tale. But Demme did the reflect-real-life thing almost too well.
Many moments are genuine to the point where you feel trapped in a room with someone else's relations in a marathon session of picking and clawing at old wounds. Hathaway stars as a woman out of rehab to come home for the wedding of her sister (Rosemarie DeWitt).
While the family tries to leave at rest its ample unspoken heartache, Hathaway's prodigal daughter dredges everything up, threatening the shaky peace everyone hopes will prevail through the wedding weekend.
Hathaway's a marvel for the depths she explores, but Demme and screenwriter Jenny Lumet overload the story with strife and boring excess.
R for language and brief sexuality. 113 min. Two stars out of four.
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