"One family. Infinite degrees of separation."

Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Directed by Noah Baumbach, rated R, 93 minutes

Margot at the Wedding is a dry and bittersweet dramedy about a neurotic writer who brings her son along to visit her sister on the eve of her sister's wedding to an offbeat man that she disapproves of, which leads to some old family tensions. Nicole Kidman is ruthless as she has this perfect way of being horribly mean while pretending to be nice, and Jack Black offers a rather subdued and subtly funny performance. Writer-director Noah Baumbach's dialogue is potent with subtext and often darkly hilarious, but the film's style is a little too self-consciously "indie." Margot at the Wedding's characters are brutal and sometimes completely unlikable, but they're relationships are utterly realistic and fascinating to watch. You'll like it if: You like films about dysfunctional families, dark comedies, The Squid and the Whale, The Savages or The Royal Tenenbaums.