Real comedy is the heart of Rachel Getting Married

Rachel's getting married, but who cares? Kym's Back…

Who is Rachel? Why is she getting married? More importantly- why do we care?

The deceiving title suggests that the wedding of Rachel, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, will be the foremost focus of the film; however this is not the case. Rachel's ex-druggie sister Kym comes home, as the "prodigal daughter" after her ten year rehab fiasco and steals the attention in a heartbeat.

The film hop scotches from one sister to the other in the days preceding the wedding. Kym, played convincingly by Anne Hathaway, is wrapped up in her own problems to the point of exhausting everyone around her, audience included. Normally this would just be annoying, but on the eve of Rachel's wedding, it serves only to aggravate the already heightened stakes. Kym evolves into that one drunken uncle everyone hesitates to invite to Christmas dinner as she reminisces -mic in hand- about inappropriate sisterhood memories at the rehearsal dinner. Up to this point, the film maintains a slightly-off color humor due to the eclectic characters and quirky depiction of domestic American life. At one point, the husband-to-be, played by Tunde Adebimpe, comments that his father-in-law's dishes could have been loaded more efficiently in the dishwasher. Automatically a timed dishwasher-loading contest is set up between the two so that the father, Bill Irwin, can salvage his dishwasher-loading honor.

However, just when your guard is let down and laughter begins to escape, the key underlying tragedy of the film surfaces. The resurfacing of this repressed pain downpours on any preexisting happy wedding sentiments and especially hits home with Kym, the person held responsible. Is forgiveness always achievable? What is there to do when it is not? When Kym cannot cope even after a decade, her life reverts to spirally downward. Nevertheless, wedding bells, or in this case, wedding chants wait for no one.

The wedding is just as diverse as its guests. From the bridesmaid saris to the Brazilian go-go dancers, it encapsulates anything and everything. Even grudge-holding Kym sheds a tear as she witnesses her sister professing her self-made vows.

At the reception the music transitions from tribal Hawaiian music to hip-hop, yet the dancing never stops. The ending ties into a nice and neat little bow with only a few frays. The girls reunite with their mother at the wedding only to watch her distance herself from them again.

She leaves just as coldly as she came, but the girls learn to let it go. All in all, the movie is real. While this realness at times tends to make it drag on, like the never ending rehearsal dinner, that's what makes it tangible to its audience. Who hasn't been to that mandatory rehearsal dinner with its twenty three speeches and trite clan of over-congratulating relatives?

As far as actors go, who would've guessed that our young princess would blossom into such a mature and dreadfully substance-abusing serious performer? Hathaway pulls off the part and leaves audiences desperately waiting to see what is coming next.

Director Jonathan Demme never fails to provide audiences with deep characters who stir up those sentiments that reside deep in the pits of our stomachs; lucky for us this film was more upbeat than his Silence of the Lambs.

Laughs are easy to come by, but caution for the film does bare the "Drama" label as well. Thus, it is inevitable that heartstrings are pulled, and if you do possess a heart, hate to break it to you, tears will fall.

If you're a fan of the Blair Witch Project's filming style, Demme's directing style is noteworthy. He keeps the audience interested especially when the plot seems to slowly stutter. At many times, the film was seen from the view of a hand held camcorder which was used for the wedding events by one of the groomsmen. This not only added a change of pace to keep the audience's interest, but also contributed to the overall depiction of real life. If you want to avoid overly-done romantic comedies and are up for something a little shy of mainstream, give this flick a chance.