Movie Review: Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married
Directed by Jonathan Demme
113 min.


Fuck this movie. I love the direction, the acting, the cinematography, the sound design, the production design-- but the screenplay is a piece of shit. What we have here is a minimalist storytelling written by a woman who doesn't properly understand what minimalism is. Minimalism isn't just about a low number of brushstrokes; it's about choosing said brushstrokes purposefully and expertly to tell a story the way it needs to be told. That was not done here. The screenplay is a mess, and so what we have here is a piece of shit that Demme has polished (and he's done so very well, hence the 2 stars) but it's still a piece of shit at the end of the day.

There are some scenes in this film I love (solely on technical aspects and/or caliber of acting) but I can't stand the sum of these parts. They're just kernels of sweet corn in the pile of shit that this movie is, as a result of its shitty, first draft screenplay. I don't care how many drafts Jenny Lumet went through to end up with the screenplay that was shot, it's still a first draft. If it walks a duck, talks like a duck, and sucks fucking ass like a duck, it's a duck-- and as such, I won't bother detailing any of the reasons why the screenplay is bad, because fuck first drafts. That might sound like a cop out, since technically this is a final draft since they shot it, but fuck that. There are stupid action and horror movies I review on here with solider screenplays than this, so fuck this movie, and fuck Jonathan Demme too for not knowing how shitty the screenplay was.