Acclaimed Academy Award - nominated writer / director Noah Baumbach brings together film stars Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in a sharply observed portrait of a family in distress.. His latest project is an unflinchingly honest story about coming to terms with one’s family and oneself, a journey that is both funny and heartbreaking..

Rated: [ R ] For sexual content and language

Cinema release: USA 16th November 2007

Australia 21th February 2008

Running time: 92 minutes

Stars: Jack Black, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Turturro

Director Noah Baumbach, Oscar - nominated for writing the 2005 gem The Squid and The Whale, is the rarest kind of filmmaker in formula Hollywood: He makes every word count without cheating on his characters for an easy laugh.. Margot at the Wedding, following Kicking and Screaming, Mr. Jealousy and Squid, is a moral tale in the tradition of France’s Eric Rohmer.. It’s the people, not the plot, driving this comedy of appalling manners.. And Baumbach, with acute intelligence and annihilating wit, writes people with flaws we can ( If we’re honest ) recognize as our own.. Nicole Kidman plays Margot, a short - story writer who leaves Manhattan to attend the wedding of her teacher sister, Pauline ( Jennifer Jason Leigh ), at the run - down family home in the Hamptons..

Margot ( Nicole Kidman ) and Pauline ( Jennifer Jason Leigh ) are two adult sisters who simultaneously detest and adore each other.. Margot is an uptight, bracingly critical New Yorker.. Pauline is unassuming and free spirited.. The sisters have been estranged for a decade and are coming together in an effort to mend their rift.. By the time the holiday is over enough damage has been done to create some fresh wounds that will probably fester indefinitely..

Margot at the Wedding is a bleak comedy with skilfully drawn characters and an unapologetically honest tone.. This is eye - wateringly scathing humour.. It’s surprisingly absorbing to watch Margo and Pauline push each other’s buttons and twist knives mercilessly while they wrestle with perceived inadequacies, jealously and great love as only sisters can..

Aesthetically the film has an appealing lived-in feel about it.. The intimacy of the space and the interactions is simultaneously suffocating and compelling.. Kidman’s Margot is a manipulative, neurotic headcase.. She is brittle, icy and unbelievably critical, but Kidman understands her completely and as a result she remains an interesting, sympathetic character..

There’s a jaded wit to the dialogue and charm to the performances that makes this film thoroughly engaging, despite the toxicity of this family in crisis.. Margot at the Wedding is funny in a painfully truthful way.. At the very least it will make your own family seem blissfully functional by comparison..

I give Margot at the Wedding 4 out of 5..