Not a feel-good film, but it has feeling

Rachel does indeed get married, but she is not the center of this film.

The sadly dysfunctional but outwardly happy family members in "Rachel Getting Married" have managed to hide their feelings from themselves as well as from each other. But here we come!

As obtrusive as any peeping Tom on the prowl, we attend the wedding and often see what they do not. We see jealousies. We see hypocrisy. We see a great deal going on. There is no murder in this movie. No car chases. There are, though, plenty of unexpected turns.

We get to sit in the corner and watch the family go at each other. C'mon along. You'll be intrigued.

The best thing about Jonathan Demme's dramatization of Jenny Lumet's script is that it never goes exactly where you expect it to go. There is a sister who has been let out of rehab for the day. There is a family tragedy in the background. We are left largely to our own devices to figure out the family pecking order that is a part of any wedding - an event that is surely among the most concisely dramatic and potentially explosive rituals of civilized society. (Robert Altman's "A Wedding" was a similar effort to record this ritual, but it was more scattered than this movie).

The main attraction is a surprising performance from the sweet-faced Anne Hathaway, who has heretofore been just the "pretty" girl who looks like she would be a finalist, at least, in the Miss America competition. Her role as Kym is a long way from "The Princess Diaries" (2001). Kym, the talkative and aggressive younger sister of the bride, requires chopped hair and a belligerent spirit.

A former drug addict, she has been in rehab for nine months and is given a pass to attend the wedding. She is sarcastic, not contrite, and quick to condemn others for her plight.

Hathaway is deft in suggesting a girl-woman who may be down but not out. She clearly knows herself. She knows how she got where she is, but she's not taking all the blame.

Kym is bright with the barbed one-liners that can put down just about anyone who crosses her. She feels guilt, but she's not going to show it to everyone. She's at an advantage because they, maybe, feel sorry for her.

Rachel (well-played by Rosemarie DeWitt) quite understandably thinks that she, not the troublemaker sister, should be the center of attention - after all, it's her wedding. Besides, Rachel feels that her father (Bill Irwin) always sides with Kym.

The best scene, one that alone makes this movie worth seeing, is when the family gathers for a dinner. As each makes a toast, you get an idea of how the sides are shaping up, and you fear when it will be Kym's turn to toast.

This is the writing debut of Lumet, the daughter of director Sidney Lumet.

It is the return to small-budgeted, "independent" thinking for director Demme, who won the Academy Award for directing "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991). His shaky-camera affectation, however, may leave you dizzy. It looks like a home movie, which may fit the theme but is amateurish and distracting.

A particular surprise is the long-overdue return to film of Debra Winger, the multi-Oscar-nominated rebel who walked out on Hollywood at the height of her career. She plays Irwin's ex-wife and the mother of the two girls. She suggests a kind of unknowing guilt but, like Kym, refuses to surrender.

This is not exactly a feel-good movie, but it is a feeling one. At that, it is a rare find. Look for Hathaway to receive an Oscar nomination.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com