Rachel Getting Married – Intense Family Drama

Cynthia raised a good point.  Had the character Kym not played by Anne Hathaway, would we feel annoyed by how self-centered the character is?  It is hard not to love Anne, even in her state of depression with cigarettes after cigarettes in her hand and bruises on her face.  A Global Globe award nominee for best actress and more, I am much impressed by the sheer number of actors and actress on screen giving us the audience a convincing performance of them having known each other for years and in Rachel’s wedding, they meet and have a good time.

A very good time indeed.  Jokes are made, live music is performed, songs are sung, poems are read – it is watched like a real wedding, with friends taking photos and videos, with the wedding couple and the helpers busy attending to the crowd.  Camera angles at times are switched to the lower quality hand held camcorders taken from the wedding guests.  The conversation seems spontaneous; the responses seems genuine; friends finishing each other’s sentences. How did they do that?!  We are not talking about a few actors exchanging lines with one another.  We are talking about a long table full of people.  We are talking a tent full of people.  Such realism, such joy to watch.

In parallel with the happy scenes is the intense family drama between Kym and her sister Rachel (who are getting married) and their divorced parents.  Character development?  Checked.  Genuine emotion?  Checked (Cynthia teared).  I think most of us have our own share of untold family drama behind closed doors.  Hence, we shall be able to relate, one way or another.

“Rachel Getting Married” has the great music, great script, and great acting performance to go for, something to ponder after the film.  TK felt nausea in the initial part of the 2 hours show because the camera moves too much.  He joked that both Cynthia and I are seasoned computer gamers so we didn’t feel a thing.  All I can say is … the Spanish horror movie [●REC] is ten times worse in terms of camera shake.  I personally feel that the mild hand held simulated effect used in “Rachel Getting Married” has it own charm in bring out the theme of it-is-what-it-is.

How in the world do we get to watch Anne Hathaway in “Passengers (2007)”, “Rachel Getting Married (2008)”, and “Bride Wars (2009”) here in Singapore almost at the same time?  The Movie Review Squad is giving “Passengers” a miss.  But we are keen to check out “Bride Wars”.  The pairing of Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway is too good to be missed.