Line #8 Film/RachelGettingMarried


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rachel-married-poster_553.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:[[TheWoobie Just look at]] [[{{Moe}} 'em doe eyes]]....]]
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4	->''"Hey, didn't I see you on Series/{{Cops}}?"''
5	-->-- '''Girl at Counter'''
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7	''Rachel Getting Married'' is a 2008 drama film about Kym, the BlackSheep of her family, who is released from rehab just in time for her sister Rachel's wedding. And naturally, [[RuleOfDrama things start to spill]].
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9	Directed by Creator/JonathanDemme, the film stars Creator/AnneHathaway as Kym (a role for which she received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination) and Creator/RosemarieDeWitt as the titular Rachel with Creator/BillIrwin and Creator/DebraWinger as their parents Paul and Abby. Tunde Adebimpe, the lead singer of Music/TVOnTheRadio, plays Rachel's groom Sidney.
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11	----
12	!!This film provides examples of:
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14	* AllThereInTheScript: Some easy-to-miss dialogue bits provide the context for the wedding, which Jenny Lumet's screenplay explains a little more. Sidney, a RecordProducer, is marrying Rachel, the daughter of music industry mogul Paul Buchman.
15	* AmbiguouslyJewish: "L'chaim" is said a few times, which suggests the Buchman family is culturally Jewish, but not religiously so.
16	* AndStarring: Debra Winger gets an "and" credit. It was her first film in four years, so her appearance was notable enough to deserve this.
17	* BittersweetEnding: Rachel does get married, and her in-laws welcome her. She and Kym have also struck a truce, at least to get along well enough as they can. Kym still has to return to rehab, however, because she is not completely recovered.
18	* BitterWeddingSpeech: Kym, who has just gotten out of rehab, makes a speech at her sister's rehearsal dinner apologizing for her past actions because she is jealous of the attention her sister is getting.
19	* CharacterDevelopment: The movie shows Kym opening up for real, rather than making up stories. She admits in rehab that she was responsible for [[spoiler:killing Ethan]], and in the end attends the wedding without her usual DramaQueen antics.
20	* ConsummateLiar: A key moment in the story is when Rachel learns that Kym has been shamelessly lying about her family to people in rehab, making up stories about being sexually abused and helping Rachel cope with anorexia, in a ploy to gain sympathy and justify how much of a trainwreck she is.
21	* TheCameo: British indie rock singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock appears briefly at the wedding performing his song "America". His appearence came at the request of Jonathan Demme, who had directed Hitchcock in the quirky 1998 concert film ''Storefront Hitchcock''.
22	* CreatorCameo: Variation. Legendary cinematic schlockmeister Creator/RogerCorman plays one of the wedding guests. Demme is one of several high-profile directors to have apprenticed under Corman.[[note]]Others include Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, Creator/MartinScorsese, and Creator/JamesCameron.[[/note]]
23	* DamageProofVehicle: Kym, angry after a fistfight with her mother, purposely drives her father's Mercedes off the road, over a road sign and into the woods, and then crashes into a rock. Although the airbag deploys, when we see the car in the morning light, the front end isn't even dented.
24	* DinnerAndAShow: Subverted for the most part. Much of the escalation happens when the family is at home, but it's hard to have any privacy when the wedding party is in the same home at all times.
25	* {{Dramedy}}: The premise sounds like an outrageous comedy--Woman's storybook wedding gets threatened when her wild child sister shows up. There ''are'' some BlackComedy elements, but things get dark as well, especially once we learn about Kym's whole backstory.
26	* DysfunctionalFamily: The Buchmans. Lampshaded by Kym during her speech at the rehearsal dinner.
27	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The movie is about the titular Rachel preparing to get married, but it also focuses on the DysfunctionalFamily as well.
28	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Pay attention to what Walter says in the very beginning of the movie [[spoiler: "Did ya kill anybody recently? Run anybody over with your fucking car?"]] At first, it seems like the ramblings of a clearly unstable person, [[spoiler: then you find out that Kym accidentally killed her younger brother by driving into a ravine while high.]]
29	* ItsAllAboutMe: Kym is so self obsessed she throws a tantrum when she realizes her sister's wedding is not about her rehabilitation.
30	** Not to say that Rachel doesn't have her moments, accusing their dad of "defending" Kym.
31	** Kym and Rachel seem to actually be a variation of TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry in which Kym is out to prove that she's better and Rachel is, well, [[TitleDrop getting married]]. Rachel even pulls the news of her [[spoiler: pregnancy]] out during a heated argument. Everyone cheers up and congratulates her, while Kym is left angry, miserable, and still unable to settle things with her family.
32	* JerkAss: Kym can come off as such, but she's of a [[JerkAssWoobie different]] [[FreudianExcuse flavor]].
33	** And then there's [[ParentalNeglect Mom]]...
34	* JitterCam: Demme wanted the film to look like "the most beautiful home movie ever made", so he eschewed the usual practice of setting up shots before filming scenes, leaving the cinematographer and his crew free to react to the scene the way they thought best as it played out.
35	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: At times, it looks like the movie was cut together from footage the guests took with their camcorders.
36	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Non-humorous example. Music starts swelling during a very intense moment, then the father asks the wedding musicians in the room to stop practicing for a while.
37	* MoodWhiplash: Realistically for a wedding weekend where one member of the family is fresh from her latest stint in rehab, scenes can go from tense dysfunctional-family drama to lighthearted and joyful, then back again, within minutes (The dishwasher scene is a prime example).
38	* MyGreatestFailure: Kym [[spoiler: accidentally driving off a bridge and causing her little brother to drown because she was high]]. Rachel [[spoiler: almost]] [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten never lets her live it down]].
39	* OffTheWagon: Averted. Despite the fact that she's in a situation that would be fraught with triggers even under the best of circumstances, and the many times we see her going off by herself, Kym stays clean and sober through the weekend.
40	* OscarBait: How else could you describe a film from a respected director about DysfunctionalFamily turmoil, including a DarkSecret? It worked, too, as Anne Hathaway was nominated for an Oscar for her role in this film. [[Film/LesMiserables2012 Her second attempt]] was more successful, though.
41	* PoorCommunicationKills: Boy howdy, it sure does.
42	* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: The film doesn't have any non-diegetic music. There's quite a bit of music, but it's provided by the musicians at the wedding, including when they practice during breaks in the rehearsals.
43	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rachel says some things to Kym at a couple points about her behavior, but eventually moves on. Kym, on the other hand, gets the big scene of this nature when she confronts her mother over [[spoiler:how she deserves some of the blame for Ethan's death, since she's the one who gave Kym the responsibility to look after Ethan, despite Kym's major drug problems]].
44	* TheReveal: The ElephantInTheRoom is eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Kym was driving her little brother while high. She drove the car off a bridge, and Ethan drowned because neither he nor Kym could undo his seatbelt in time to save him. While their father forgave Kym, Rachel hasn't. Kym to this day doesn't know why she survived and if she deserves to live]].
45	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Rachel is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin indeed getting married]], and the wedding drives the plot, but Kym is the protagonist.
46	* ShoutOut: Sidney sings "Unknown Legend" (from ''Harvest Moon'') as part of his vows. The minister then quips "By the power vested in me by the state of Connecticut and by Music/NeilYoung, I pronounce that they are husband and wife."
47	* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler: Kym and Rachel's mother]].
48	* TitleDrop: During one of the rehearsals.
49	* TropaholicsAnonymous: While she's in town for the wedding, Kym attends the meetings of a local NA chapter.
50	* WhamShot: After Kym and Rachel's dad [[ItMakesSenseInContext demands more dishes for a dishwasher loading contest with Sidney]], Kym grabs a random stack of plates. The dad grabs the one on top, but it gives him pause. After everyone except Kym leaves, it pans over to the plate which reads "Ethan" [[spoiler: The name of Kym's brother who she accidentally killed.]]
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Context Film / RachelGettingMarried