Prodigal daughter

Jonathan Demme gives moviegoers a little optimism | Sam Thielman

Sony Pictures Classics

After soulless, immature, and technically perfect movies like Burn After Reading (and parts of The Dark Knight), moviegoers finally get a little optimism: The Truth About Charlie director Jonathan Demme masterminds Rachel Getting Married, a funny, hopeful sisterhood story that Demme made with his own money, with his friends, and shot in bright colors on digital cameras.

The prodigal daughter, pretty and self-absorbed Kym (Anne Hathaway, in a career-making performance), tries to hijack her sister's wedding. Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is sick of playing the good daughter, and the two keep trying to snatch back the spotlight in a series of gorgeously written arguments. Caught in the middle are Paul (Bill Irwin) and his second wife Carol (Anna Deavere Smith), who try to help Rachel pull together the wedding amid Kym's noisy meltdowns. Outbursts of profanity in these, combined with a brief sex scene, get the film its R rating.