Expectations for this dysfunctional family drama were high. It's the second feature from the writer and director Noah Baumbach, whose savagely candid and semi-autobiographical debut was The Squid and the Whale.

It features Nicole Kidman playing a poisonously pretentious, manipulative and self-deceiving character - arguably the most interestingly flawed role she has taken on since Suzanne Stone in To Die For. Kidman is Margot, the semi-estranged sister of Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whose wedding to the rather unprepossessing Malcolm (Jack Black) is the reason for their reunion. There are a few brilliantly unsettling moments of shocking cruelty - Margot and Pauline's mirth as they recall the unfortunate third sister (“Raped by the riding instructor!” chuckles Margot). But for the most part, the drama is characterised by a dull nastiness. The story fails to flow - it just feels like shattered splinters of familial sadism, and not even the best efforts of an impressive cast can draw this series of bitter episodes into a coherent whole.

15, 93min

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