Movie Review: Margot at the Wedding

If proof were ever needed that a big name cast doesn't guarantee you box office success, then Margot at the Wedding is it. Despite starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black and John Turturro, this film made less than $2m at the US box office, which would have barely covered Black's lunch requirements during the shoot.

Hopefully it'll prove more popular in the UK, because it's that rare thing – a Hollywood comedy drama that features complex, believable characters and doesn't feel the need to explain everything to the audience. Kidman plays Margot, a successful writer but emotional wreck who comes to visit her estranged sister Pauline after she hears she is about to marry a deeply unsuitable man she has only just met.

Margot at the Wedding is written and directed by Noah Baumbach, whose previous movie The Squid and the Whale proved a breakthrough indie hit in 2005. Like that earlier film, this is a bittersweet portrait of messed-up family life, where the only really likable characters are under 18.

Both Margot's teenage son and Pauline's daughter have turned out to be relatively normal considering their mothers' best attempts to mess them up, and they certainly show more maturity than their dysfunctional, jealous parents.

Much of the film's success lies in the casting of Kidman and Jason Leigh. Jason Leigh reminds us why she's one of America's best character actresses, while Kidman gets to drink, swear, smoke pot and indulge in behaviour that would've made The Golden Compass a far more enjoyable experience.

Baumbach has stated that his biggest influence was French master Eric Rohmer, and Margot at the Wedding certainly has a very European air to it. It asks more questions than it answers, and the writer/director uses lengthy silences and abrupt jump cuts to create an edgy, sometimes uncomfortable atmosphere.

The film is often very funny, but this is humour of the blackest variety and those expecting your usual Jack Black comedy are better off seeing Be Kind Rewind this weekend. The lack of sympathetic characters may be a turn off for some, but if you're looking for reassurance that your own family isn't as bad as all that, then Margot at the Wedding is the movie for you.