Two people who refuse to ever marry again meet at a wedding, as you do. Rachel’s (Meryl Streep) a writer, Mark’s (Jack Nicholson) a writer, and they both know better when it comes to love. So of course they end up marrying, though not before Rachel keeps everyone at the wedding waiting for hours and hours as she tries to warm up her cold feet in the room next door. I mean honestly, what’s the max time you would spend at a wedding if the bride was refusing to walk down the aisle?
As if that was an inauspicious enough start to their marriage, the two embark immediately on a home renovation. Which, as we all know, is responsible for like 78% of all divorces and about 94% of matricides (when a wife kills her husband). But they get through it, even with the added pressure of a baby on the way who can’t possibly be born if the lace curtains aren’t hung. And Rachel, newly domesticated, is surprised to find how happy she is. And is totally devastated to find, during the waddliest waddle of her second pregnancy, that Mark is cheating on her.
What now? The Streep takes us up and down a whole xylophone of emotions, hitting every octave with masterful precision. Nicholson is the oboe to Streep’s xylophone, a little jauntier, but hitting complementary notes, pairing nicely. Plus his back hair catches pleasingly in the moonlight. But make no mistake: the xylophone is dominant.
Directed by Mike Nichols based on an autobiographical novel by Nora Ephron, the intimacy is authentic enough to make you feel like a voyeur but you need to decide in advance that you’re here for the performance, not the story. Because there isn’t much of one: love goes off the rails. It’s sad but it happens all the time. The minute Rachel shoves a key lime pie in Mark’s face, she’s every cliche we’ve seen before and none we haven’t.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
I won’t watch this one for the same reason I won’t watch Marriage Story. Too close to real life. I want to escape real life through movies.
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I haven’t seen this one, but Marriage Story is so brilliant. Sometimes films which capture “real” emotions can serve to be therapeutic. However, I respect the fact people prefer escapism over reality.
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I’m with ^
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Is this based on Nora Ephron’s life? There was a doc on her life I saw a while back, and didn’t she talk about how she wrote the novel? I can’t recall now.
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I just recently rewatched this and I’m surprised that you are reviewing it, Jay. Such powerful performances.
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Great review!!
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Oooo… I need to keep an eye out for this one!
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Great review! I have, rather embarrasingly, never seen this film. Great cast, writer and director so go figure. I will search it out and redeem myself for this oversight.
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This one’s a good one.
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This one’s a good one.
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I won’t hour it one because the equal reason I won’t clock Marriage Story. Too shut in accordance with real life. I want to escape actual life through movies.
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