Film

Margot at the Wedding

Name: Margot at the Wedding
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2007
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, John Turturro, Ciarán Hinds

Noah Baumbach's prickliest film is a queasy comedy about two sisters who cannot stop wounding each other. Nicole Kidman is magnificently unlikeable as a writer who mines her family for material; Jennifer Jason Leigh matches her cruelty for cruelty. Handheld, sun-bleached, almost unbearably intimate — for people who like their family dramas mean, not cathartic.

TMDb rating

5.8

If you liked this

The Squid and the Whale2005

Baumbach's own domestic disaster, seen through a divorcing family's teenage sons — same unsparing eye, same gift for turning humiliation into comedy, and arguably his best work.

But If Margot's cruelty already exhausted you, this dials the discomfort up further with two kids caught in the crossfire.

Rachel Getting Married2008

Anne Hathaway's addict returns home for her sister's wedding and reopens every old wound; same handheld intimacy, same sense that a happy occasion is a minefield.

But More conventionally redemptive than Baumbach allows himself — there's warmth here Margot never lets you have.

You Can Count on Me2000

Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo as siblings whose love is inseparable from their resentment; gentler than Margot but cut from the same emotional cloth.

But Kenneth Lonergan's tone is softer and more forgiving — if you wanted more venom, this may feel too kind.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Autumn Sonata1978no page yet

Same mechanism as Margot — a relative whose self-regard has quietly wrecked someone close to them, confronted in a single overnight visit. Bergman does it four decades earlier, in Swedish, and with total sincerity where Baumbach can't resist the joke.

Bergman's chamber piece between a famous pianist and the daughter she abandoned for her career — one night of accumulated resentment surfacing as devastating dialogue.

But Subtitled, stage-bound, and far bleaker; there's no comic relief valve here at all.

The Savages2007

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as adult siblings forced together by a parent's decline, with the same acid wit about duty, resentment, and being related to someone.

But The subject — aging, caregiving — is heavier and sadder than a wedding-week meltdown.

Junebug2005no page yet

A big-city outsider walks into a strange, insular Southern family and everyone's masks slip; same slow-burn dread dressed as a comedy of manners.

But Quieter and stranger than Margot, with less outright verbal warfare.

The Family Stone2005

A more mainstream, star-studded version of the same nightmare — meet-the-family weekend curdles fast, though this one lets people actually like each other eventually.

But Sentimental where Margot refuses to be; the ending forgives everyone.

This Is Where I Leave You2014no page yet

An ensemble of adult siblings forced under one roof after a death, mining grief for the same kind of bitter comedy that erupts at family occasions.

But Broader and glossier — studio comedy polish instead of Baumbach's discomfort.

August: Osage County2013

If you wanted Margot's dysfunction turned up to a full theatrical shriek, this delivers matriarchal cruelty and buried secrets at industrial strength.

But Big, stagey, and unsubtle — Tracy Letts writes for the rafters, not for Baumbach's hushed rooms.

Greenberg2010no page yet

Baumbach again, this time turning his scalpel on a single unbearable man; same interest in people too self-absorbed to be likeable, still oddly compelling.

But No sibling axis at all, and Ben Stiller's character is even harder to spend time with than Margot.

Grey Gardens1976

Take away Baumbach's screenplay and you get this — actual family codependency and cruelty, filmed as it happens, in the same kind of faded seaside house Margot's family occupies.

The real 'Little Edie' and 'Big Edie' Beale, mother and daughter, decaying together in a crumbling East Hampton mansion — spiky, funny, and heartbreaking without a script.

But No narrative shape at all; it's observational documentary, and some will find the Beales' decline upsetting rather than entertaining.

Sisters2015no page yet

Same engine — two sisters, a family house, old rivalries surfacing at a life-event deadline — but run through the studio comedy machine instead of art-house misery, proof the story works as trash too.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler play grown sisters throwing one last blowout party in their childhood home before their parents sell it — same sibling push-pull, played as raunchy comedy instead of literary dread.

But Broad, silly, and R-rated in a completely different register — anyone wanting Baumbach's chill should skip it.