This is not your average and everyday dysfunctional family movie. In fact, I would not even necessarily call it that. This story is more about a family torn apart through tragedy and addiction. Everybody involved is traumatised in their own singular fashion and they have not had a chance to truly interact with one another particularly the family junkie' until she returns to the family home fresh out of rehab for her sister's impending wedding.
It turns out that Kym (Anne Hathaway) has been in and out of rehab at least twice in her young life and is still trying to come to terms with her own guilt. We actually never really find out to what exactly she was addicted to in the first place but learn that she was sky high' when she was sixteen. She also never touches a drop of alcohol throughout the festivities leading up to the wedding and through the nuptials themselves.
Her parents that is dad Paul (Bill Irwin) and stepmom Carol (Anna Deavere Smith) pick her up from the centre where Kym's care worker is awaiting their arrival together with another openly swearing and clearly unhappy inmate'. They seem to have earned each other's trust, something Kym is about to test with her own family. Dad is absolutely overprotective, worrying about letting his addicted daughter out of his sight which is not overly conductive to her recovery. Her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) seems to be more at ease with her best friend Emma (Anisa George) than Kym but, at least on the surface, tries to welcome her sibling and even makes her Maid of Honour replacing Emma. After an initial fight between the siblings during which Rachel accuses Kym of always having been daddy's favourite child and focus of attention the bride to be does not even want her sister to share the family table at the wedding reception. Mother Abby (Debra Winger), living nearby with her new partner, seems to be bearing a great deal of guilt herself, possibly one of the reasons her first marriage broke down even though both mom and dad seem to be on fairly good terms as both are invited with their partners to the prenuptials as well as the wedding itself.
The only person who at least somewhat understands what Kym is going through is Kieran (Mather Zickel), the groomtobe's Best Man. He, too, is attending the local addiction meetings Kym joins more than likely a condition for her being able to attend Rachel's wedding in the first place and there she also finally opens up and tells the truth about what happened, something she did not do at all times. As the sisters attend a local hairdressers and beauty shop the day before the actual wedding a former inmate' comes up to Kym thanking her for opening up about her abuse' which, in turn, helped him come to terms with his experiences. Rachel gets up and walks out as she overhears the story and that is all it is, a story essentially abandoning' her sister and taking off. This incident, however, finally triggers the long overdue opening up of the buried feelings all round however, it ends up in an accusatory shouting match rather than in a clearing up of emotional trauma which is anything but constructive