It's hard for me to imagine how Noah Baumbach, the man who penned and lensed 2005's breathtaking, semi-autobiographical The Squid and the Whale could make such a hideous, convoluted dud of a character comedy. Nicole Kidman stars as Margot, a hopelessly critical and intensely unlikable woman, who is visiting her free-spirit sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on the occasion of her wedding to the foolish and obnoxious Malcolm (Jack Black). Being agitating is not a crime against cinema. There are perfectly fascinating character studies too be made out of people with grating personalities. The crime here is just how poorly explored each of these people are. They behave like spoiled children, say and do horrible things to one another, then sit around and dissect said horrible things, then argue over this process of dissection, and then dissect the argument they had about their dissection of the horrible things they said and did. It runs in futile circles with no progression or development. It's just a series of witty exchanges some of which are genuinely funny, even less of which are poignant, and the bulk of which don't mean a damn thing.Margot has a near parasitic relationship with her son Claude (Zane Pais) and treats him more as a peer than a child (a theme much better explored in Squid). She also may or may not divorcing her husband (John Turturro) who she cannot stand because he's so nice he makes her feel mean. Pauline is pregnant but doesn't want anyone to know for fear it'll make Malcolm feel obligated to marry her. They're also all collectively dealing with potentially psychotic neighbors who are launching a campaign for them to cut down the dying tree in their backyard whose role in the sisters' child holds sentimental value (literal metaphor alert!). All of this culminates in a scene so weird and ugly it's painful to watch, and not in a good way. So much is set up and so little is resolved. And not just resolution is missing. I can live with ambiguity, but there's honestly not a single bit of evolution or transformation from frame one onward. It's just a back and forth tennis match of unimpressive verbal lashings between overly articulate characters who behave stupidly and without any logical motivation. There are a few moments here and there that are executed nicely, particularly by the gifted cast who all give it their best shot, but those bits are few and far between. I'm greatly disappointed to say that this is no winner.
Grade: C
