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Above is the trailer for a film I’ve been eagerly awaiting, mostly due to enjoying the humurous and poignant The Squid and the Whale so much. Now, it’s writer/director Noah Baumbach has returned with yet another painfully honest portrayal of family upset, with Margot at the Wedding.

Nicole Kidman plays the eponymous protagonist who takes her son to visit her sister, who is due to marry the rather idiotic Malcolm (Jack Black). But watching this trailer, I couildn’t help but feel mildly disappointed by what I saw. It all felt a bit too easy. In The Squid and the Whale, Baumbach created the wonderful character of Bernard, who was utterly pretentious, bitter, yet vulnerable. You don’t see such well-rounded characters in cinema these days. But from this trailer, everything feels deeply unoriginal and predictable. Even the humour feels like a second-rate sitcom, such as the don’t-speak, what-did-I-just-say line. If this is one of the highlights of the film, we’re looking at a huge disappointment.

Jack Black is one of those actors, just like Dan Ackroyd, who even when in sub-par movies, makes his scenes enjoyable. Here, is seems that Black is going for a more serious role, but is really acting as the comic foil, to break up the drama. Again, my suspicions are aroused with this tired method of independent American cinema (Sideways, The Station Agent, etc).

But, I’m willing to give the film the benefit of the doubt. Baumbach’s previous film sounded, from the outset, like something rather pedestrian, but the result was far greater. I can only hope the film was holding its quality moments away frmo the repetitiveness of its promotional trailer.