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Rachel Getting Married | 2008 | R | - 6.4.6

A troubled young woman (Anne Hathaway) looks forward to returning home after a long stint at rehab, only to find herself in the midst of her older sister's (Rosemarie Dewitt) chaotic wedding. As family and friends gather together, old wounds are re-opened, and relationships -- both old and new -- make way for an addict's self-discovery. Also with Matthew Zickel, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger, Jerome Le Page and Robyn Hitchcock. Directed by Jonathan Demme. [1:56]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man and a woman are shown having sex, standing and thrusting toward one another in the shadows of a basement; the woman's legs are wrapped around the man's waist and they are both moaning and breathing heavily (there is no visible nudity).
 Three women dance at a party: they appear to be belly dancers, they shake and gyrate and dance with various partygoers (both men and women) and are wearing bikini-style dance costumes (all three wear bra-like tops with cleavage, bare midriffs and belly buttons evident; one dancer's buttocks are not covered completely, and the camera focuses on them in one shot). A woman bathes another woman in a bathtub (they are sisters and nothing sexual is implied): she washes her back with a sponge, and specifically, a tattoo on her back and shoulder area; the woman in the bathtub sits up, and holds her arms over her breasts (we can see the bare sides of her breasts and bare legs).
 A man is seen bare-chested. A woman's cleavage is shown in a low-cut top. Various women in bridesmaid's dresses reveal bare midriffs and bare shoulders in dresses, and a bride is wearing a dress that reveals her midriff. A woman is shown standing in a doorway in her underwear (she is wearing a tank top that reveals cleavage and underpants and her bare legs, thighs and calves, arms and shoulders are also bare), she turns to walk down a hallway and we see a partial view of her bare buttocks and the backs of her bare legs. A woman sits on a toilet and her bare thighs are visible.
 A man and a woman kiss (they have just been married). A wife feeds her husband cake and then they kiss. People are seen hugging and kissing in multiple scenes: A man and a wife kiss, an ex-husband and ex-wife kiss on the cheek and hug, a mother hugs her two daughters, a father hugs his son-in-law, a woman kisses her sister on the cheek and hugs her, and a woman kisses a man briefly on the lips and hugs him goodbye.
 A husband and wife slow dance, they are pressed close to one another, another woman presses up against the woman (they are sisters), another man presses up against the woman and the four people slow dance in one group. Men and women dance closely at a wedding reception, and some dance suggestively by shaking hips and grinding up against one another. Men and women slow dance and press up against one another.
 A man speaks to a woman about her past sexual abuse by an uncle, but he does not go into further detail. A woman questions the integrity of the "sexual molestation conversation" while talking to another woman -- no specific abuse is mentioned thereafter. Two women talk about a fantasy that one of them had about having sex with a male figure skater. A man makes a toast at a party and wishes the newlyweds that "all the ups and downs are in the bedroom." A woman makes reference to prostitution (she does not go into detail). A man -- in a joking manner -- makes reference to giving oral sex for drugs. A woman makes reference to French-kissing another woman when they were younger. A woman tells her family she is pregnant.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Two women (they are mother and daughter) argue over the death of a child, the argument escalates into the mother shaking the daughter by the shoulders and then smacking her across the face (the woman's lip is visibly bloodied after the slap); she falls back onto a couch, gets up, slaps her mother hard in the face (she falls backwards onto a couch), and one woman leaves the scene visibly upset with a cut on her lip.
 A woman speeds in a car, she accelerates and drives purposely into a road sign, knocks it down, and ultimately, through woods and into a large boulder; the airbag deploys, the woman hits the airbag and she appears unhurt but shaken.
 A woman trips and falls onto folding chairs (she is not injured). A woman falls into a wall on a bicycle (she is not injured).
 A woman tells the story of the death of her younger brother in a car accident: she describes losing control of the vehicle, driving it into a lake, and not being able to rescue her brother from his car seat, and she says that he drowned. A woman encounters a man from rehab who recalls her writing an anonymous exercise in which she told of her sister's anorexia and the abuse they endured from an uncle. Three women argue over who should be a maid of honor. A woman makes references to running people over, killing, a house on fire, passing out, flooding a house, and a 14-year-old girl having a restraining order against her. We are told that someone has a problem with pyromania, and a reference is made to someone having a problem with food hording. A woman tells another woman that she is there to "pee in a cup," and repeats the line again. A woman makes a remark about "puking."
 A woman is shown with a black eye, a cut lip, and a bruised forehead. A woman sits on a toilet and puts a specimen cup underneath her, and we hear the sound of her urinating.

LANGUAGE 6 - About 17 F-words and its derivatives, 8 sexual references, 8 scatological terms, 1 anatomical reference, 1 religious profanity, 26 religious exclamations, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (drug addict, liar).

SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown drinking alcohol (mainly wine) in various scenes throughout the film, wine is shown on tables in various scenes (in bottles and in glasses) and people give toasts while holding glasses of alcohol and a man chugs a glass of wine and he appears inebriated. A woman smokes cigarettes in multiple scenes and several other people smoke in a couple of scenes. A man makes a toast in which he recalls "clouds of medicinal herbs," referring to marijuana, a woman discusses vomiting and passing out from drugs and alcohol, a woman is seen leaving rehab, a woman has various conversations about being a drug addict, a woman makes various self-deprecating remarks about her drug and alcohol addiction, and a woman has trouble remembering past instances due to her drug and alcohol abuse. A woman gives a urine sample to be screened for drugs and alcohol, a woman attends 12-step meetings where men and women talk about their addictions, a woman talks about taking Vicodin, horse tranquilizers, Percocet and doing "so many whippets," a woman states "I should use again" (referring to drugs and alcohol), a woman talks about being under the influence of Percocet at the age of 16, driving, and subsequently being responsible for a car accident in which her baby brother was killed, and a woman states, "I was stoned out of my mind."

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Drug and alcohol addiction, 12-step programs, death of a child, death of a sibling, guilt, sister issues, mother issues, family, jealousy, self-deprecation, anorexia, marriage, dysfunction, responsibility, self-destructive behavior, judgment, paranoia, family, relapse, apologies, making amends, cynicism, pedophilia, dealing with abuse, sexual molestation, loneliness.

MESSAGE - Family will forgive, but not forget. Life is measured by how well you love others.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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