Review: Marriage Story Directed by Noah Baumbach; Netflix

Marriage Story Directed by Noah Baumbach; Netflix; Release date: November 2019

Film Shorts

MARRIAGE STORY:

...starts with a divorce that turns acrimonious over location and custody. Oddly enough one can make the case those two themes serve as analogies for the story itself. The film talks about the couple's marriage and mostly rehashes the unhappy moments, while never setting them in the past. 

MARRIAGE STORY seems more concerned with fitting into the sub-genre where the wife has dimmed her potential to advance her husband's career. Within that crater, the film seems to be more of a production for some named actors to work together. As such it features a great cast that is able to lift the story and rescue it from an abyss of rehashed storylines.

A film geared toward critics, this star vehicle for Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver does give them enough dialogue and scenes together. Unfortunately, MARRIAGE STORY has them playing to type; whereas it would have been great to show them as non-brooding, peppy figures. Laura Dern gives an over-the-top performance as the cut-throat lawyer that widens the wedge between them - a role for which she won an Academy Award.

Overall, the film sets out what it hoped to accomplish and serves as a what not to do guide for those heading into marriage or divorce.

Recommendation: MEDIUM

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Reviewed by Guichard Cadet