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IMDb > Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Margot at the Wedding
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Margot at the Wedding (2007)

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User Rating: 6.3/10 (4,530 votes)
Photos (see all 49 | slideshow) Videos (see all 4 videos )
IMDb Coverage of Comic-Con 2008

Overview

Director:
Noah Baumbach
Writer (WGA):
Noah Baumbach (written by)
Release Date:
21 February 2008 (Australia) more view trailer
Genre:
Comedy | Drama more
Tagline:
One family. Infinite degrees of separation.
Plot:
Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm. In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed family secrets. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 6 nominations more
User Comments:
Neurotic chaos in the Hamptons more

Cast

 (Cast overview, first billed only)
Zane Pais ... Claude
Susan Blackwell ... Woman on Train

Nicole Kidman ... Margot

Jack Black ... Malcolm

Flora Cross ... Ingrid

Jennifer Jason Leigh ... Pauline

Seth Barrish ... Toby
Matthew Arkin ... Alan
Michael Cullen ... Mr. Vogler
Enid Graham ... Mrs. Vogler

Sophie Nyweide ... Vogler Daughter

Justin Roth ... Vogler Son
Ciarán Hinds ... Dick Koosman
Halley Feiffer ... Maisy Koosman
Joanthan Scwartz ... Malcolm's Friend
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Untitled Noah Baumbach Project (USA) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for sexual content and language.
Runtime:
93 min | USA:91 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 32% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The cinematographer, Harris Savides, used old lenses and shot mostly in natural light to get the dim, ominous look of the film. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Malcolm has trouble recollecting the bassist for Motley Crue, and then remembers that it's Mick Mars. The bass player for Motley Crue is actually Nikki Sixx, although this mistake could have been intentional to further convey the forgetfulness. more
Quotes:
Margot: He's not ugly. He's completely unattractive. more
Movie Connections:
References Barely Legal All Stars 1 (2004) (V) more
Soundtrack:
One Fine Summer Morning more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
39 out of 64 people found the following comment useful:-
Neurotic chaos in the Hamptons, 5 October 2007
7/10
Author: Chris Knipp from Berkeley, California

Baumbach was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay for his amusing, spot-on study of a New York literary intellectual family in crisis, 'The Squid and the Whale.' As befits one who received accolades and some little box office success, he has moved forward with similar themes and a better budget, and was able to enlist not only several more well-known actors but a famous cinematographer, Harris Savides, and a renowned costume designer, Ann Roth. Baumbach has also moved along in time, as it were. If 'The Squid and the Whale' was a parental breakup mostly considered from the viewpoint of a teenage boy, this family analysis has more of an adult sibling focus--though there's a boy on hand who's important. More limited in its time-span than 'Squid,' 'Margot' is more complex in its specifics and in its conversational delineation of neurotics at play. Just about every scene is a relationship meltdown. It's a wonder nobody comes to violence. In fact one character does get kicked in the chest, and a big tree falls down, doing some damage.

Baumbach himself may understand what all this is about, but the choppily edited and shot piece has too little dramatic structure (despite being very much like a play) to go anywhere or make much overall sense. Despite good buzz from some quarters and urban (especially New York) fans, the young director may lose with 'Margot' a sizable slice of the credibility he gained with 'Squid.'

Pauline (Baumbach's wife, Jennifer Jason Leigh), who lives on the family house on an island, is about to be married, for the second time, to out of work artist Malcolm (Jack Black). Her sister Margot (Nicole Kidman) comes with her young adolescent son Claude (Zane Pais). Ingrid (Flora Cross), Pauline's daughter, is there, and a playmate for Claude. Margot is a well-known short-story writer, and it turns out she's scheduled for a reading at a local bookstore with a former flame, Dick (Ciaran Hinds), whom she seems to want to get together with again. Dick's sexy daughter Maisy (Halley Feiffer) is also on hand. Margot has told her husband Jim (John Turturro) not come for the wedding (though briefly he does appear).

Pauline and Margot haven't been getting on well for years, but they both approach this occasion with the misguided assumption that they're nonetheless still each other's best friends and that things are going to be rich and consoling.

But as soon as the good-looking and accomplished, if thoroughly neurotic Margot lays eyes on the fat layabout Malcolm, she goes to work on Pauline to cancel the wedding--even though Pauline reveals she's pregnant. There is a family of nasty neighbors, the Voglers, who want the big tree in the backyard to come down. Its roots are spreading to their property, it's rotting, and it's poisoning their plants, they say.

Margot wants Claude to become more independent, but neither of them is ready for that yet. Nobody seems to be ready for anything, relationship-wise. This is about the only thing that clearly emerges.

One of the problems is in the conception of the main characters. This is not the anguished, edgy Leigh we've often seen in the past but a mellow woman, and despite lack of accomplishment and temper tantrums (which he credibly argues are justified in this crazy situation) Malcolm may have been a sweet guy who clicks very well with Pauline. Margot seems to make trouble for everybody, beginning wit her son. But since she's the most accomplished family member, it's a bit hard to know how to take her. It's a bit hard to know how to take anybody. Complex characters are fine, but nobody in this piece is going in a consistent direction. And this is equally true of the action. Was the wedding meant to have a meltdown before it ever happened?

This is a slice of life in more ways than one. Scenes are constantly cut off and linked to the next by jump cuts, an effect meant to be vérité and sophisticated that tends at times merely to look sloppy. Though Baumbach says he got exactly the look he wanted, it's surprising that the Savides of 'Elephant' and 'Zodiac' would give us so many shots that are seriously under-lit. Again, the effect hovers between original and amateurish.

All this is a shame, because all the actors do great work. The young newcomer who plays Margot's son Claude, Zane Pais, is indeed miraculously natural and believable. Leigh and Kidman do some of their best work, and Jack Black has perfect pitch in every line. There's no doubt that weeks of careful rehearsals on the set, in the house, helped the cast work so well together, and Baumbach knew what he wanted. But it reads as a series of vignettes rather than a film.

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Message Boards

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
This feels shameful to write... mamaspank
What to Watch Next? kahloesque
Did any of the characters remind you of someone you know? jeremy_brett_fan
I Thought Claude was a Girl for the first ten minutes Jeminye511-1
Did Margot have a brain tumour or something? nerostar9b
Rape? (And other questions - SPOILERS!) anolinde
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