Sometimes a movie comes out that everyone (by whom I mean mainly critics at publications whose name you would recognize) raves about, that has the biggest of big names attached to it, that treats a topic of contemporary interest, and yet your experience of watching it delivers the opposite of “wow!” It’s not a terrible movie, there are things to admire about it, but you leave the theatre underwhelmed and wondering what all the fuss was about.
Such a film is Marriage Story, which was written and directed by Noah Baumbach and stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, with supporting roles filled by a dream team of big-name actors including Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Julie Hagerty, and Ray Liotta. Marriage Story comes with sterling credentials, including a 97% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, 94% on Metacritic, and accolades from previous festivals like Venice (where it was nominated for Best Film) and Toronto (where it took second place in the People’s Choice Award). And yet my reaction to this film was largely meh—the film shows you beautiful people struggling with the most ordinary of problems, and wants you to believe that it is presenting a portrait of a marriage that began as perfection and then tragically went bad. To me, the marriage was immediately identifiable as a glaring series of inequalities that finally became unbearable for the person who perpetually got the short end of the stick.
Charlie (Adam Driver) is a hot young director in New York City. His actress wife Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) left her successful television career in Los Angeles to work with him in the theatre, where he calls all the shots in indie productions (the rehearsal we are shown unintentionally suggests a parody of the avant-garde rather than a serious play) that get him named a MacArthur Fellow (the so-called “genius” award that comes with a completely unrestricted $625,000 award). The problem is that he has been calling all the shots in their home life as well, and supposedly joint decisions have always favored his career over hers. Nicole also has a close relationship with her family in LA, and would like to be near them, but somehow opportunities for the family (which includes an adorable child, Henry, played by Azhy Robertson) to move back to California always seem to get turned down in favor of something that Charlie prefers.
Nicole and Charlie have decided to divorce, and intend to do it amicably and without lawyers. Both initially view the other as devoted to the relationship and their child, with the inequality of their situation (not only professionally, but in terms of who has actually done the hard emotional labor of caring for their child) revealed to them (and presumably to us, although you may, as I did, spot them a whole lot earlier) over the course of the film. When Nicole is offered a starring TV role, she moves back to Los Angeles and into the embrace of her family, which includes her mother Sandra (Julie Hagerty) and sister Cassie (Merrit Wever, excellent as always). After talking with lawyer Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern), Nicole decides she’s been giving up too much; in response, Charlies also seeks legal counsel, working alternatively with the down-and-dirty Jay (Ray Liotta) and the grandfatherly Bert (Alan Alda).
Marriage Story is Charlie’s movie—he’s the character that changes the most, and Baumbach gives him way too much credit throughout—which is disappointing since most American movies are already about the men in them, and this one seemed to promise something different. There’s some ugliness during their struggles (how many contested divorces don’t include some of that?) but things eventually work out, which is no surprise, since writer/director Baumbach is clearly on the side of these beautiful and successful people and wants everything to be OK with them (it’s no secret that the story was partially informed by his own divorce). That’s what bothers me most about Marriage Story—it presumes that we will automatically be invested in the private lives of the central characters because they represent some sort of ideal that we are expected to honor–they’re basically celebrities for the arty crowd, a cool kid alternative for people who turn up their nose at plain old movie-star celebrities. More materially, I don’t see the insight and intimacy that a lot of critics apparently find in this movie—there are good scenes, but others seems highly unnatural, as if the characters were puppets forced to play out scripts at the whim of puppet master Baumbach. | Sarah Boslaugh
Maybe, but I’m starting to wonder what people want out of films. We keep on saying that there are few movie genres and aesthetics to choose from. The major distributors offer us comic book movies, Star Wars, Star Trek and not much else. Reboots, rehashes and mashes. What’s wrong with the occasional flick? Two hours of reasonably well written, well performed, well shot and edited isn’t such a bad thing. Kramer vs Kramer didn’t have car chases, epic battles, CGI and grand scenes, but was still a fantastic little film.
Agreed — by the midpoint it was flat-out tedious. (And yes re Merrit Wever!) Also far too long.
Finally a reviewer that says what we felt after watching marriage Story!!! My husband and I thought the characters were highly unnatural and I almost felt like I was watching Scarlet Johansson in one of the past Woody Allen movies which she was so much better in! It started out promising when they met with the mediator but after reading the long list of what they admired about each other then ditching the mediator it went downhill for us! I’ve never met a family that acted like this family especially their son who I almost felt bad for sitting in a baby car seat when he was supposed to be about 8?
A half hour in so far on Netflix, probably won’t make it til the end. Too trite, annoying, predictable. Merrit Wever was terrific in Nurse Jackie, though.
Just finished watching and was completely underwhelmed. I never was invested in them as a couple so the divorce, most of the time, didn’t move me either. With a few exceptions from Driver, most of the scenes between the two of them felt staged. I was very conscious of them being actors playing in a movie (also true of the lawyers), which to me is the opposite of great acting. And the ending? Way too neat and tidy and unreal. It’s not often I’m this disappointed in a movie that’s received such great accolades. It makes the brilliance of Parasite even clearer in comparison.
Yay! I’m not the only one. Watched about 20 mins and then skimmed through the rest hoping to catch a glimpse of something moving or even interesting. The mains in this movie are relatable to what, 5% of the population? And I think it’s just not a well written movie.
This is just another poor effort by Netflix and I don’t know what the critics were smoking, but it must be good.
Your review does justice. The overwritten, and over-directed portrayal by Laura Dern of the smarmiest lawyer ever seen on film must have been fueled by a titanic grudge on Baumbach’s part. All together, watching was an act of masochism which I wanted to quit a half-hour in and would have if I hadn’t been under orders by my wife that it was a must-see if I at all cared about the health of our marriage.