The Once-Great Jonathan Demme's Cold Streak Continues With 'Rachel Getting Married' [Start Making Sense]

The Once-Great Jonathan Demme's Cold Streak Continues With 'Rachel Getting Married' [Start Making Sense]
It wasn't so long ago that Jonathan Demme was considered one of Hollywood's preeminent directors. Actually, scratch that — after checking out his IMDB profile, we now realize that the last time he made a film that had any sort of cultural impact (or, for that matter, even approached the state of being "watchable") was 1993's landmark Academy Award winner Philadelphia. Over the last fifteen years, his resume includes such stinkers as Beloved, The Truth About Charlie and The Manchurian Candidate (in the spirit of fairness, the documentary The Agronomist was pretty decent). Which is why after seeing Demme sputter out with a couple of ill-fated remakes, we were mildly excited for his return to directing an original script, the Anne Hathaway vehicle Rachel Getting Married. Emphasis on the word "were."

From the looks of the trailer, Demme and screenwriter Jenny Lumet have been watching and studying the oeuvre of Noah Baumbach a little too closely. From the intricately tangled relationship between sisters (see: Margot At The Wedding) to the interracial couple that serves as a foil for the film's screwed-up protagonist (see: Mr. Jealousy), this film's plot points feel like something we've all seen before. Then when Anne Hathaway — trying her first "dark" role on for size since her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada — starts falling apart at the seams, her performance seems like nothing more than a rehashed version of what Sandra Bullock did in 28 Days. And what's even worse is the gall of all parties involved when they try to invoke the spirit of Tom Wilkinson's triumphant performance in Michael Clayton by having Hathaway introduce herself to the rest of the members of the wedding party as "Shiva, The God of Death." Really? With the way Jonathan Demme's career has regressed over the last 15 odd years, we're pretty happy to see him headed back to the concert doc circuit for his next project.
Published 8/12/08 by


Defamer

DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from The Insider editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their story and its contents is in compliance with our Terms of Use.

Comments (0)