Anne Hathaway's character comes out of drug rehab plop into the middle of her sister's wedding set at her father's house. The cast of characters and families that meet and intertwine is interesting and infuriating at the same time. I mean, for crying out loud, there's the girl(white) marrying the guy(black), there's the wedding mc(Asian) and the wedding is Indian themed. And, oh yeah, everyone gets along great.
As a result the whole thing suffers from being oh so Politically Correct. Everyone in this Connecticut clan is so talented and witty and loving. I believe the filmmakers were trying to use this as a kind of irony set against what's beneath the surface. The film takes its good time before the pot overflows and we find out Hathaway's character did a Chappaquiddick with her younger brother, getting in a car accident while stoned, killing the young kid. This, then, caused her descent into drugs- a descent which we never see, by the way, in the film. I also had a hard time getting past the ludicrous notion that anyone would be stupid enough to let their child come out of rehab into a dysfunctional family wedding. If anything could make someone mainline it's a family wedding!
The acting is at a high level throughout, with, for me, the father, played by Bill Irwin, towering over everyone. He's the quiet desperation of just trying keep everything under the surface- demonstrated superbly in his need to feed anyone within striking range. Hathaway can act- I didn't really buy off on that, as all the magazines and talk shows have instructed me to do, before seeing her here. The young actress is way over-exposed at the moment, her publicists forcing all of us to see the clown-eyed and eared one as a great beauty. Hopefully, she can do more and better small films like this to get away from that tommy rot.
But the bottom line for this film is that two hours is too long of a time to spend with these people who all think they are such great examples of humanity. I appreciate that the film is shot entirely with handheld cameras but it is a little jarring. And I just can't shake the idea that this project was drummed up as Anne Hathaway's independent film to show she can really act. Score
Character 30 - good actors, good dialog
Presentation 23 - handheld camera shake it up
Plot- 22 - it feels contrived.
