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". . . perhaps the most elaborately multi-culti Bobo wedding ever committed to celluloid. . . . Depending on your own politico-cultural inclinations, you may wish to respond to this extravaganza by imitating it or by voting a straight Republican ticket."Heh. I'll resist the temptation to discuss my "politico-cultural inclinations" and instead just accept the opportunity to blog about one of my favorite Hollywood hotties, who (a) loves the bad boys, and (b) has had some excellent "wardrobe malfunctions."
UPDATE: Just called a film-buff friend to try to figure out the "family tragedy" that the critics keep hinting at without ever expressing specifically. It's this: Hathaway's character Kym was in a DUI accident that killed her and Rachel's younger brother.
So this is what explains all of the angst that looms through the film. Nothing like unloading a spoiler on a highbrow Oscar-buzz movie.
I actually think Orr is correct about the wedding ceremony and after-party -- it is a completely-unintentional parody of Connecticut Upper-Crust Multicultural Awareness.
ReplyDeleteBy the time the Latin American contingent arrived under the tent a couple of female samba dancers dressed like it was Rio Carnival time and (this was the hilarious part) a short dumpy woman in Andes Indian garb -- the only thing to do is snicker (the alternatives are to be as bored as Kym is or get a tingle up your leg). As an objective dramatic fact, the wedding party goes on too long, though I understand the thematic import of having the "drama" (word used deliberately) recede into the background and just show people enjoying themselves at a party. If you see the film, which I'm guessing you won't, you'll know what I'm getting at.
Not terribly relevant, I know, but I do think RACHEL GETTING MARRIED is a great film and one measure of its greatness is that I really cared about a group of 95% Obama voters who'd consider me a Christofascist godbag wingnut. The key is that the checklist multiculti liberal me-generation narcissism -- the stuff Orr says you and I would detest (correctly I think) -- is just one more fact about these people. And while the film doesn't flay them for that specifically, they are a quite seriously fuckedup family. It's not as simple as "movie shows how the liberal-worldview fucks up this family"; more like, "here's a liberal-worldview family, and boy are they fuckedup ... and here's how they live and survive, after their fashion." Leaving it in some way up to us to decide whether we find them attractive.
I don't know, Stacy, whether you liked THE ICE STORM (or rather I don't remember ... I find it unimaginable that we would never have discussed it at some point). But if you liked that one, I'd give RACHEL a spin. I should warn you that Orr is correct in one other respect ... Hathaway is playing it "down" in the looks department. She's definitely the Nottie here.
What a joke this movie was. I just sat there at first, shaking my head. Then it came to me that this might REALLY be a joke. Some parody of liberal polliictal correctness. Lesbianism? check. Multi-culturalism? check (to a rediculous and laughable degree). Wealthy liberals/no jobs in sight? check. Lots of addictions, angst, self-loathing, self-centeredness as only non-working/non-thinking liberals experience? check. Gratuitous use of black women in skimpy attire dancing? check. Mercedes/Volvo/Saab? check. Anti war statement? check. Mocking of middle-America Texan? check. Worst movie I ever saw unless I think of it in terms of a parody of the shallowness of east coast elite liberals. Then it becomes one of the best ever for showing how most of America doesn’t live.
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