Marriage Story
I realized most of the films I’ve written about so far have been rated on the higher end, so I thought I’d spice things up and do a film that I didn’t like. I did initially think to myself, “That’s no fun!”, but hey, life isn’t always fun. One of the reasons I write these, in addition to hopefully informing your viewing selections, is because they help me get a better sense of my film taste, and knowing what isn’t worth a watch is equally as important in that as knowing what is. I watched this movie when it came out and hated it. So much. It was probably the angriest a movie has ever made me. I watched it again before I wrote this, just to be sure I hated it (Good ole quarantine fun!), and I think the “Nah” speaks for itself.
Marriage Story (2019) is a film about a divorce, written and directed by Noah Baumbach. I think about it a lot, probably too much. I don’t even know where to begin. I think the root of a lot of my contempt for this film is that I was never invested in the two main characters, and they’re the whole story, so there goes that. They are revealed almost entirely through voiceover and dialogue, and they’re also both just extremely unlikable. “Showing, not telling” and “Likable protagonists” are screenwriting 101 rules, and while rules can be broken, when you break them you’re supposed to be doing something else cool, but Marriage Story isn’t cool, it’s just boring. There are so many scenes in this movie that feel like they were written to be as dramatic as possible, and the acting doesn’t help. To be fair, a big part of actor’s performances is a result of directing, but still. I’m aware that movies are movies, not real life, but this movie just feels too far removed from reality to be important. There are multiple moments in this film that make me literally cringe, and some that make me laugh out loud, but not because they’re funny. Y’all know I don’t do spoilers, so I’m just gonna say “Gate”, and real ones will know. There are so many lines of dialogue that feel like they were written for me to go, “You’re a genius Noah!”. This points to the inherent, self-involved, artsiness of the whole thing. It’s basically just two hours of rich people yelling about LA, New York, and plays. I could’ve given this film a “Lowkey”, or maybe even an “I Guess”, but that wouldn’t feel right. It would only be because I’d be telling myself it has so many Oscar noms, and famous actors, so it must be good! I’m off that though. The fact that this movie got so much hype is why I needed to write this. Marriage Story is inauthentic, inaccessible, overly dramatic, and boring. If that sounds like something you’d be into then check it out! Wow, that was therapeutic.