Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Zane Pais, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Flora Cross, Jack Black, Ciarin Hinds
Rating: R

On-screen fiancés Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Margot at the Wedding. (Courtesy photo)

Nicole Kidman is probably the top female movie star in the world. She’s certainly among them. But I don’t know anyone who loves Nicole Kidman, who goes out of his way to see her latest film. I don’t think anyone looks forward to Colin Farrell movies either. Or Dane Cook or Paul Walker movies. But none of them are at the level of Kidman. So what makes her such a prominent star, beyond very good publicists? She has actually starred in very few highly successful movies, and 2007 has been particularly tough on her. No one saw The Invasion this summer, and The Golden Compass has proven itself to be a very expensive dud. But most discouraging for Kidman must be the lackluster performance of Margot at the Wedding. Noah Baumbach’s follow-up to his critically adored 2005 film The Squid and the Whale has earned almost as positive a critical reception. But even though it boasts the world’s biggest female movie star, audiences simply aren’t going. That’s a shame, because this time Kidman is definitely worth seeing.

The credit is due as much to Baumbach as to Kidman. He has crafted a character that couldn’t be a better fit for her. Margot is cold and beautiful, brittle and cruel, yet barely redeemable. You want to see Margot suffer, but you also want her to learn something and become a better person. Margot takes her 14-year-old son Claude (Zane Pais) to the old family house on Long Island, where sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and daughter Ingrid (Flora Cross) live with Pauline’s fiancé Malcolm (Jack Black). Margot and Pauline have not spoken much recently (spend a little time with Margot and you need not ask why). That she has agreed to take part in the wedding is a gift in itself to Pauline. But before their first conversation is through, things start to unravel. Margot makes it all too clear that she doesn’t approve of the oafish, unemployed Malcolm. Before long she is criticizing Claude in front of everybody and exacerbating the bad blood with the neighbors. More time with Margot only leads to more discomfiting revelations—her marriage is high up on the rocks, and she may already be having an affair with smooth local author Dick Koosman (Ciarin Hinds). It’s hard to gauge where Margot is at her most destructive—humiliating the son she obviously loves, or effortlessly nudging a wedge between Pauline and Malcolm.

If Baumbach weren’t able to ground the movie in the very real, it might devolve into camp. But even when things reach their most absurd and destructive, the words conveying it are cringingly authentic. Baumbach risks our commitment by presenting such deeply bruised characters, and exposes the kind of character texture that he knows will either drive us away or hook us completely (a bitten-off fingernail gets more screen time than one might anticipate). Baumbach the writer-director has shifted away from the trite struggles of unmotivated 20-somethings (Kicking and Screaming, Mr. Jealousy—yech), and expanded his voice while remaining intensely personal.

Kidman’s work here ranks up with To Die For (1995), another movie with a perfectly honed role for her. Sure, her American accent comes and goes with changes in her emotional pitch, but somehow even that works for her. Jennifer Jason Leigh is just as good in the tougher role. Pauline is far more reactive, and among the warmest characters Leigh has been allowed to play. It’s a good reminder of how alive Leigh can be when given a part that allows her to smile. Jack Black is a bit outplayed by his two powerhouse costars, yet this is also pretty smart casting. In terms of questionable qualifications, Malcolm is to Pauline as Black is to Leigh. Black is still a personality learning how to really act, but he moves farther up the curve with his work here. Pais and Cross are truly great as the damaged young cousins. Both young actors are given some weighty scenes to pull off, and both do very well.

Margot at the Wedding is pretty much open-ended, free of the too-tidy wrap-up, but also free of having to make some tough choices about these characters. I think my favorite aspect of the script is the way Margot and Pauline can behave unforgivably to each other, but moments later they are friends again, without apology—sisters with an unbreakable bond for better or worse. Some have found not only Margot to be insufferable, but nearly everyone else as well. That small but well-voiced portion of the population that feels people who live in big houses should have nothing to complain about will not be fans of Margot. I found myself at risk of such a reaction, but was never pushed over. It is a tough watch, scene-for-scene more brutal than No Country For Old Men. The levity slips in and out between exchanges of quiet nastiness, yet the overall tone of the movie is not dark. Margot at the Wedding is rough and rewarding, with some tremendous acting and one of the best scripts of the year. And whatever you think of Nicole Kidman’s movie star status, in this film she is very much worth seeing.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.