Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Rachel Getting Married (2008) 8/10
Anne Hathaway has definitely improved. From her Princess Diaries days, she has been picking better, edgier movies in recent years (Brokeback Mountain, Devil Wears Prada, Get Smart) although in those films she tended to get overshadowed (its easy when you star against Meryl Streep). But with Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway shows a marked improvement and show alot of room for maturation. As the dysfunctional sister who returns just as another sister is getting married, Hathaway displays impressive depth and more importantly restraint. There are many scenes which could easily have gone over the top but Hathaway rightly reigns it in. The result is an intimate, poignant look at family and how old scars never really heal. While Hathaway is great and deserving of her Best Actress Nomination, the supporting cast provides an excellent foil and they play off each other’s strengths.
The sole weakness is that a script of this nature is inevitably low key and lacks the extra magic to push to the next level. While the cast, including Hathaway is very good, there is still a gap between very good and masterpiece and this is something the film still lacks. While i can think of better examples of films in a similar genre (The Squid and the Whale comes to mind), Rachel Getting Married is nevertheless a finely acted film that will please cinetastes.
