by John Roberts

Created on: August 04, 2009   Last Updated: November 15, 2011

"Rachel Getting Married" possesses an outstanding number of high profile names involved in the making. A critical darling of 2008, the film was directed by Jonathon Demme who is the acclaimed Academy Award winner for "The Silence of the Lambs." Star Anne Hathaway shed her cutie pie "Princess Diaries" persona to portray an unpleasant bitch en route to a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. So "Rachel Getting Married" must be a high quality independent film, correct? Not even close.

The fact "Rachel Getting Married" is a cinematic travesty was a stunning revelation. Beyond being a boring waste of nearly two hours time, it is astonishing how this film ever got made in the first place much less be critically applauded. Of course being written by Jenny Lumet, daughter of famed filmmaker Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of legendary singer Lena Horne, gave the project a head start. Getting Demme and Hathaway attached secured financing.

Cast, crew and critics must consider "Rachel Getting Married"high  art despite a plot line straight off of the Lifetime Network for Women. Unfortunately, "Rachel Getting Married" lacks the drama, depth or even interesting characters found in an average Lifetime movie. Even worse is the filmmakers adopted a semi-documentary style approach with cinematographer Declan Quinn's (brother of actor Aidan) annoying jerky camerawork providing "realism." Add to that the amateur hour quality of having what appears to be mainly non-professional actors  in front of the camera.

Kym (Hathaway) is released from rehab to attend her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding where the participants are less than thrilled by her presence. One would expect the usual family tensions fueled by sisterly relationships and appearance by the mother played by Debra Winger. This occurs less than more as the audience is frequently sidetracked to scenes offering nothing. For instance, Kym attends a rehab meeting in which attendees drone on and on about themselves which has nothing to do with Rachel's story. This kind of scene fails to forward or contribute to storyline and is merely a time filler reflecting Lumet's lack of depth.

So much of this film is empty and devoid of any tension. The entire film is dull and flat. Is not a best Actress Academy Award nominee supposed to dominate with screen time and presence? Hathaway achieves neither. There is nothing particularly special concerning her performance nor does Hathaway even offer that single obligatory attention grabbing scene. The actress' nomination is due to an aggressive marketing campaign to win over Academy voters with the strategy of impressing with Hathaway's "Look at me, I'm a real actress because I have a bad haircut playing a rotten person in an independent film. Is not that an awesome change from my usual adorable self in fluffy commercial movies?"

Hathaway is a competent actress who was far more impressive in the little seen independent film "Havoc" and "Brokeback Mountain." "Rachel getting Married" is a classic example of why one must be wary of "little critical gems," those films trumpeted by out of touch elitist film critics.

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