(We're re-posting our review of Rachel Getting Married from the Toronto International Film Festival to coincide with the film's theatrical release this weekend)

By: James Rocchi

Rachel Getting Married is a terse, smart, funny and tough family drama about forgiveness and failure written by Jenny Lumet; it's also a loose, smart, broad and bright film about family and love directed by Jonathan Demme. When these two things are in sync, the end result is something truly impressive – a moving story that appeals to your heart and soul without insulting your intelligence, a film full of big scenes that never stoops to the most obvious possible iteration of those big scenes, a movie loaded with great and sincere performances from the top down. When the two parts of Rachel Getting Married fall out of synch – as they do, most notably, in the last third of the film during Demme's raucous, joyous post-wedding reception – it's less catastrophic than it is curious, and the final film is still very much worth watching.

Preparing to play Kym, the fresh-from-rehab prodigal daughter in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway didn't see the possibility of the Oscar nomination buzz and critical raves she's been receiving since the film's debut at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. She saw a human being: "My heart broke for her, and I wanted to tell her story ... People were talking like 'Oh, you get to play a bad girl ...' and I said 'No, Kym's a great girl ...' She's not perfect; she's totally nuts. But she's honest. " Hathaway spoke with Cinematical in Los Angeles about working with Demme, her co-stars Bill Irwin and Rosmarie DeWitt, which Elliot Smith song she found a key to her character in and more. ...

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As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

As insane as it would be to see a movie where Nick Nolte chats with God, that's not quite the Arcadia he's getting involved in. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Nolte, Haley Bennett, and Carter Jenkins have signed on for a coming-of-age indie called Arcadia Lost. Bennett and Jenkins star as pretty unlucky step-siblings -- mom and dad die in a car crash on their first family trip, and while on their own "the stunned teens roam the Greek countryside and befriend an expatriate vagabond (Nolte) who leads them to a mysterious spiritual ceremony." So it's kinda god-like, but in a style more fitting to Nolte. If this is your cup of tea, check out THR for info on tracking the film through Facebook.

And then there's the sleek and tough Maggie Q. Variety tells us she's going to star in a new historical action pic directed by Tian ZhuangZhuang called The Warrior and the Wolf. Tang Wei was originally linked to the film, but since Lust, Caution got her in trouble with China, methinks they looked elsewhere. Warrior will tell the story of two warriors in ancient China, and is currently in production in the Xinjiang province.

What probably won't be going into production any time soon, if ever, is a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. In a discussion with MTV, Anne Hathaway said: "I'm really, really proud of Fox's decision not to pursue a sequel. When I did Bride Wars with them I asked what happened, and they said we can't make a story, and it's not worth it to damage the original film." That being said, she has wished for a decent story for a sequel, and would continue the franchise if it was right. If Fox hasn't come up with something worthwhile yet, they probably won't (kudos to the studio for not forcing the issue) ... but maybe thoughts of more Andy will lead Hathaway to a similar role elsewhere.

One last little bit: George Clooney might be the Lone Ranger? Really? Could you see Clooney and Depp together? Check AICN for more.

Click image to check out an exclusive clip from Rachel Getting Married

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the much buzzed-about Rachel Getting Married, which just recently enjoyed its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. A few folks I know already named this their favorite of the fest so far, and we haven't stopped hearing Anne Hathaway's name being tossed around during early Oscar conversations. The film, which was directed by Jonathan Demme, follows a woman (Hathaway) who returns home for her sister's wedding following several stints in rehab.

In his review from TIFF, James said this of the film: "Rachel Getting Married is a terse, smart, funny and tough family drama about forgiveness and failure written by Jenny Lumet; it's also a loose, smart, broad and bright film about family and love directed by Jonathan Demme. When these two things are in sync, the end result is something truly impressive – a moving story that appeals to your heart and soul without insulting your intelligence, a film full of big scenes that never stoops to the most obvious possible iteration of those big scenes, a movie loaded with great and sincere performances from the top down."

Rachel Getting Married arrives in theaters on October 3rd. Click the photo above to check out an exclusive clip.

Rachel Getting Married is a terse, smart, funny and tough family drama about forgiveness and failure written by Jenny Lumet; it's also a loose, smart, broad and bright film about family and love directed by Jonathan Demme. When these two things are in sync, the end result is something truly impressive – a moving story that appeals to your heart and soul without insulting your intelligence, a film full of big scenes that never stoops to the most obvious possible iteration of those big scenes, a movie loaded with great and sincere performances from the top down. When the two parts of Rachel Getting Married fall out of synch – as they do, most notably, in the last third of the film during Demme's raucous, joyous post-wedding reception – it's less catastrophic than it is curious, and the final film is still very much worth watching.

Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married; her little sister Kym (Anne Hathaway) is coming for the big event ... which involves getting picked up from her most recent stay at a rehab clinic. A cynic could look at Hathaway's part in Rachel Getting Married and paraphrase Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder: Always go full rehab. And while it's true that the Academy and critics tend to reward gritty, hyperbolic portraits of drug-addiction's misery, the fact is that Hathaway's Kym is not quite as simple as that. Kym knows all the things she's done wrong; she also knows she'll keep doing some of them. Immediately, in the car, the lines of battle are drawn, with Kym going on the offense as part of her defense mechanisms, asking her dad (Bill Irwin) and step-mother (Anna Deavere Smith) about how Rachel's holding up: "Are all of her latent food issues coming up? Is she still hoarding Snickers and Cool Whip under the bed?" Soon, Kym's plunged into the thick of the preparations for Rachel's wedding, responding to the chaos by adding to it. ...

For quite some time, the supernatural thriller Passengers -- starring Anne Hathaway as a grief counselor working with survivors of a plane crash (among them, Patrick Wilson) who begin to vanish -- had been quietly set on opening this Friday, September 5th.

However, as the date neared without any sign of a poster, a trailer, anything, I began rooting around the IMDb message boards and was about to post a Spanish-language trailer, complete with accompanying amateur translation, when along came a legit trailer (by way of Reelz Channel), a real poster (courtesy of IMP Awards), and a new date of October... well, just October for now.

Given his knack for ensemble dramas such as Nine Lives and Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her, director Rodrigo Garcia seems to be a curious pick for the material, as the focus is less on what's happened to the group as a whole and more on Hathaway and Wilson investigating one another. Otherwise, the vibe I'm getting here is the one I had from 2004's The Forgotten: it has just enough of a hook to get me to watch it, but I doubt that the pay-off will live up to it.

What do you guys think? Will September's Lakeview Terrace and October's Rachel Getting Married satisfy your Wilson and Hathaway jones, respectively? And facing this Halloween's mainstream horror fare, is Sony, under the Tri-Star banner, about to dump this in a limited amount of theaters as they had with, say, Wind Chill, which just happened to star Prada pal Emily Blunt?

TITLE: Rachel Getting Married
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Demme
STARS: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Habitual rehab recidivist Kym (Anne Hathaway) comes home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), and to the complicated embrace of her mom (Debra Winger) and dad (Bill Irwin) . Any and all promises of best behavior are, of course, certain to go awry in this comedy-drama scripted by Jenny Lumet, the daughter of directorial legend Sidney Lumet.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Because this is a classic example of a star-director pair worth looking forward to. After a recent series of great documentaries and glossy entertainments, Jonathan Demme looks to be settling in for a fierce, frank drama about people ... and Hathaway, too often sidelined in light comedy, may finally have a chance to flex the acting chops she demonstrated in her brief-but-bold turn in Brokeback Mountain.

Back to the TIFF Preview page ...

With Fall Festival season about to kick off, this week The Rocchi Review features James chatting with Cinematical's Film Festivals Editor Kim Voynar about the strange splendor of the Telluride Film Festival, what the most-anticipated movies will be at this year's Toronto Film Festival and much, much more. Will Zack and Miri Make a Porno make a splash? Will Rachel Getting Married get Anne Hathaway some respect? And does one of the most-anticipated films for Toronto really star Jean-Claude Van Damme? Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Less than an hour ago, I'd not a clue about the Jonathan Demme-directed, Anne Hathaway-starring dysfunctional family dramedy, Rachel Getting Married, and having now watched the new trailer over at Yahoo! Movies, I find myself equally reminded of two films I felt were of opposite worth: the winning Pieces of April and the wearying Margot at the Wedding.

Following a string of documentaries, this is Demme's first feature film in four years since his remake of The Manchurian Candidate, apparently embracing a more free-form, hand-held style on this project. Hathaway, meanwhile, seems to have shed all evidence of her tough-girl persona from Get Smart as the rehab-frequenting Kym, save for perhaps her eyeliner. And it can't hurt to have Debra Winger and Rosemarie DeWitt around, playing her mother and sister, respectively.

Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere seems to have the only opening date around, with the film going limited on October 3rd. With any luck, whatever buzz comes from its Venice and Toronto premieres (and, in all likelihood, also Telluride, Toronto, or all three) will carry it into the looming awards season.

[Thanks, Andrew!]

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game where you don't have to be a guru in order to win fabulous movie-related prizes. Last week, we asked you to point, laugh and get your caption on with a photo of two heads (belonging to Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway) from the film Get Smart. And that you did! Congrats go out to David R. for turning us on and off in the same sentence.


1. "That better be your shoe-phone, Max." -- David R.

2. "Um, I think we are just about in over our heads." -- Cherlyn

3. "I told you the Marie Antoinette spa treatment was a bad idea!!" -- Tim

See full image and all captions





This week, we're searching for a little love (and advice) from Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) in The Love Guru. Our old friend returns to live-action comedy with this flick about a self-help guru who travels from India to the states to help a star hockey player whose wife left him for a rival athlete. Sound familiar? Have you found yourself in a similar romantic squabble as of late? And are you seeking advice from all the wrong people (like that guy with the wooden leg who keeps asking to square off against you in a game of naked Twister)? Well, look no further my fellow caption-ers, because the three winners from this week will prance away with one The Love Guru Guru Pitka magic 8- ball action figure (pictured right, click to enlarge). This way, next time trouble comes knocking at your heart, you'll have your own personal guru to help steer you in the right direction. Sound off below ...



Read the official rules for this contest