It's with great disappointment I report that Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach's follow-up dramedy, is not only nowhere near as sharp as its predecessor, The Squid and the Whale, but a failure in its own right. Leaving behind Squid's relatable adolescent's-eye view on divorce for a hackneyed, adult-oriented dysfunctional family dynamic, and replacing Squid's modest realism for incongruent deep-shadow gothic, Margot attempts more but really offers less. Inasmuch, Baumbach's weaknesses are devastatingly exposed--the compassion he once showed toward his neurotic characters, starting from his 1995 debut, Kicking and Screaming, has turned into rancor. Margot at the Wedding is mean-spirited, and its insufficient attempts at humor underline a tonal imbalance that hasn't before been present in a Baumbach film--a depressing thing to witness.
Click here to read Michael Joshua Rowin's review of Margot at the Wedding.