Margot isn’t wedded bliss

In theaters Friday: 10,000 B.C. , The Bank Job, College Road Trip
New on DVD: Awake, Into the Wild, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Things We Lost in the Fire

I finally watched Margot at the Wedding last weekend. I’m thinking I should have skipped it. My relationship with Noah Baumbach is rocky at best. The writer-director has appeared self-indulgent and aloof as a director (yes, including Kicking and Screaming) and as an interviewee, but he did impress me with his last outing, the Wes Anderson-produced The Squid and the Whale. That film, with fantastic performances by Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney, is based on Baumbach’s own childhood as the son of two noted New York City authors. It is a fascinating look at a family breaking down — though the ending was far from satisfying.

Unfortunately, Squid seems to have been the exception that proves the rule here: Baumbach’s devotion to rich, white characters who wouldn’t know real problems if they were smacked on the head with them is killing him as an artist because he is unable to transcend his characters’ inherent richness and whiteness to tell an engaging story. He is content with spotlighting an elite subset of society, painting with broad strokes that barely scratch the surface and throwing in some literary and pop music references, and calling it a day. The only likeable character in the film is Jack Black’s artist Malcolm, whose occasional outbursts are so warranted you both identify and empathize with him as the lone spark of reason among the maddening solipsism that surrounds him. Of course with nearly every line of dialogue delivered by his girlfriend, Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Pauline, his devotion to her calls his romantic judgment into serious question.

As Margot, Nicole Kidman is just obnoxious, a cardboard cutout of an egotistical Manhattan fiction writer. Even worse, her self-centeredness undermines the entire premise of the film, which is that she is confronting her sister and pleading with her not to marry a “loser” like Black—even though her quick assessment seems based solely on Malcolm’s appearance and profession. If Margot was real, she would have been too preoccupied to care who her sister married. She would have watched from afar and gossiped to friends about Pauline from afar, and she would have reveled in it. If the film had been more enjoyable, such contradictions would have bothered me more. But it wasn’t, so they don’t. If you like characters who dine alfresco and drink wine all day, who don’t change or learn anything of value in the course of 90 minutes, then by all means, reply yes to Margot at the Wedding. Me, I wish I’d gone straight to the reception.

Does Semi-Pro’s meager $15 million opening weekend signal the end of the Will Ferrell era? Some people are blaming the R rating for keeping teens out of the theater. I just think he played the same character one too many times. Why go see Semi-Pro when you can pop in your Talledega Nights DVD for free? He needs to branch out and do more films like Stranger Than Fiction. No more brazen slapstick or mindless machismo. Ferrell needs to tone it down, and sign on for more intelligent projects.

Speaking of comedic actors who have moved on to more interesting projects, I am always on the look out for Bill Murray news, and here is an early report on his next film, City of Ember. I like it already.