Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 188
Fresh: 159 | Rotten: 29
Rachel Getting Married is an engrossing tale of family angst, highlighted by Anne Hathaway's powerful performance and director Jonathan Demme's return to form.
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 46
Fresh: 42 | Rotten: 4
Rachel Getting Married is an engrossing tale of family angst, highlighted by Anne Hathaway's powerful performance and director Jonathan Demme's return to form.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 36,365
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Movie Info
Lingering tensions clash with new hopes in director Jonathan Demme's ensemble drama set during an idyllic wedding that threatens to descend into chaos with the appearance of the bride's estranged sister -- a volatile and unpredictable girl whose turbulent history of personal crisis and family conflict quickly threatens to take precedence over the happy ceremony. Rachel Buchman (Rosemarie DeWitt) is about to be married to the love of her life, but while the weather outside may be perfect, there's
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Cast
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Anne Hathaway
Kym Buchman -
Rosemarie DeWitt
Rachel Buchman -
Bill Irwin
Paul Buchman -
Tunde Adebimpe
Sidney Williams -
Debra Winger
Abby -
Mather Zickel
Kieran -
Anna Deavere Smith
Carol -
Anisa George
Emma -
Jerome LePage
Andrew -
Victoria Haynes
Bridesmaid -
Beau Sia
Wedding Czar -
Sister Carol East
Wedding Band Performer -
Robyn Hitchcock
Wedding Band Performer -
Darrell Larson
12-Step Group Leader -
Carol Jean Lewis
Sidney's Mom -
Roger Corman
Party Guest with Movie ... -
Fab Five Freddy
Wedding Performer -
Sebastian Stan
Walter bowtie party gue... -
-
Michele Federer
12-Step Reader -
Zafer Tawil
Violin Friend -
Tamyra Gray
Singing Friend -
Elizabeth Hayes
Susanna Galeano -
Innbo Shim
Wedding Planner -
Roslyn Ruff
Rosa -
Annaleigh Ashford
Quick Stop Cashier -
Quincy Tyler Bernstine
12-Step Receptionist -
Matthew Stadelmann
12-Step First-Timer -
Pastor Melvin Jones
12-Step Speaker -
Kyrah Julian
Sidney's Sister
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Rachel Getting Married Trailer & Photos
All Critics (189) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (164) | Rotten (29) | DVD (13)
Those who surrender to Demme's disarming, almost participatory technique will find themselves overwhelmed, exhilarated and inspired by the eternal possibilities of cinema.
Even Hathaway's remarkable, Oscar-worthy performance can't save it.
Rosemary Dewitt is fantastic.
Rachel Getting Married is a magical wallow in excess, a too-happy, too-sad, too-indulgent plunge into an over-planned wedding.
It's a successful experiment that leaves you with a mix of hope and despair. To the lovers, best wishes. To the lonely, our sympathies.
By the time you leave the theater, you feel like you were one of the guests. I, for one, was happy for the invitation.
Like a family reunion with its share of embarrassing moments, it may be worth attending all the same.
Rachel Getting Married is an extraordinary achievement.
Pulsates with life
Like being forced to sit through an overly long wedding video in the living room of a couple you hardly even know.
Kym crashes through her family and the weekend, careening off real and imaginary obstacles with a fierce yet still sympathetic rancor. It's the home movie you hope never to see of your life, impeccably filled with color and on-set live music and life and
Only those who are willing to forego the many imperfections in the loosey-goosey script and Demme's improvisational style will feel the acting makes the film worth seeing.
By the time the Ganesha cake is cut, you're left with the poodle as the only family member worthy of empathy.
The messiness that goes with genuinely flawed and complex people is what makes the film ring so true and cut so deep.
Most noteworthy for Anne Hathaway's absorbing, Oscar-nominated portrayal of a disturbed soul desperate to control the demons derailing her reality.
It's a lovely movie, with abundant charm and no fear of suffering.
...an alternatingly intriguing and maddening cinematic experience...
This isn't the kind of melodrama where a happy facade is slowly torn away-the tensions are there from the start and no one has illusions that things are nice and rosy.
The only real surprise is that someone doesn't break into "Burning Down the House" at the rehearsal dinner.
When Hathaway and DeWitt are on-camera together, there's a palpable seethe of sibling rivalry that overshadows the wedding, Kym's problems, or even the horrible event that everyone has been trying to put behind them.
There is a nice collection of extras, which start with two full-length audio commentaries.
Jonathan Demme has struck a brilliant balance here, delivering a film that looks, sounds and feels painfully honest, while making it entertaining as well as deeply truthful.
Audience Reviews for Rachel Getting Married
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Kym Buchman: When I was sixteen, I was babysitting my little brother. And I was, um... I had taken all these Percocet. And I was unbelievably high and I... we had driven over to the park on Lakeshore. And he was in his red socks just running around in these piles of leaves. And, um, he would bury me and I would bury him in the leaves. And he was pretending that he was a train. And so he was charging through the leaves, making tracks, and I was the caboose, and I was, um... so he kept saying, coal, caboose! Coal, caboose! And, um, we were... it was time to go and I was driving home... and... I lost control of the car. And drove off the bridge. And the car went into the lake. And I couldn't get him out of his car seat. And he drowned. And I struggle with God so much, because I can't forgive myself. And I don't really want to right now. I can live with it, but I can't forgive myself. And sometimes I don't want to believe in a God that could forgive me. But I do want to be sober. I'm alive and I'm present and there's nothing controlling me. If I hurt someone, I hurt someone. I can apologize, and they can forgive me... or not. But I can change. And I just wanted to share that and say congratulations that God makes you look up, I'm so happy for you, but if he doesn't, come here. That's all. Thank you.
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- Kym Buchman: I'm Shiva the destroyer and your harbinger of doom for this evening.
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- Kym Buchman: Sisterhood conquers all.
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- Kym Buchman: Seriously, you're so tiny, it's like you're Asian.
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- Rachel Buchman: Paul Buchman likes to say that 'the measure of a great life is not how well loved you are, but how well you love others.'
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Foreign Titles
- Rachels Hochzeit (DE)
- Rachel se marie (FR)










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