Rachel Getting Married (2008)

A recovering addict (Anne Hathaway in an Oscar nominated performance) is temporarily discharged from a drug rehab so that she can attend her sister's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. But she brings a lot of emotional baggage with her that will bring family tensions to the forefront. Directed by Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), the film was heralded as a "return to form" by many critics. There is a lot to recommend about the film. Notably, Anne Hathaway's raw performance. Demme uses a cinema verite  approach to the film but it backfires. Everyone seems to be trying too hard to be "real" so that the naturalism that cinema verite usually displays looks forced, too contrived. We're too aware of the obvious effort. It works with Hathaway's "jumping out of her skin" performance because her character is a drama queen and a recovering junkie but there's no excuse for the extremisms of everyone else's acting. When Debra Winger as Hathaway's mother comes on with her underacting, you just want to applaud. Her ease just puts everyone else's acting to shame. Robert Altman did this kind of thing much better. But it's definitely worth seeing for Hathaway's bravura performance which feels authentic and ultimately heartbreaking. With Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith and Anisa George.