Commentary With Actress Rosemarie DeWitt; Commentary With Producer Neda Armian, Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, And Editor Tim Squyres; Cast And Crew Q&A At The Jacob Burns Center; Featurette: The Wedding Band; A Look Behind The Scenes Of Rachel Getting Married; Deleted Scenes.

Blu-ray Extra: BD-Live™ enabled, allows users to get connected via an Internet-connected Blu-ray player, download content, give feedback through a survey, and register for rewards.

(Taylor Carlson) - (Video & Audio)- Version-{Blu-ray}:

"Rachel Getting Married" was shot on HD cameras, and for the most part, the quality of this transfer doesn’t disappoint. It’s generally clear and the picture suffers from no major flaws. The only issues are that, as a whole, the transfer is rather soft, and the detail isn’t quite as good as you’d usually expect from something in 1080p, though this is likely the way the cinematographers’ intentions and may be deliberate.

The Lossless audio is featured on this disc, and it fares similarly to the video quality. It sounds good and gets the job done, but this isn’t really the kind of movie that’s going to show off what your sound system is capable of. Still, it’s more than competent, and the dialogue is rarely incomprehensible.

(Prairie Miller)- Regular DVD:

A movie about a radically dysfunctional family, in contrasting stupefyingly colorblind racial harmony with pending black kin as an interracial nuptial is prepped to happen, Rachel Getting Married does have one oddly designated outsider of color - namely Anne Hathaway as the black sheep of this warring upscale tribe. In an award worthy turn as an addict in recovery who shows up for her sister's wedding, Hathaway is set up by director Jonathan Demme (Silence Of The Lambs) for a mass reaction of such dread and loathing, that she may as well have been Hannibal Lecter with lipstick.***

Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada) is Kym, a sarcastically self-described 'visiting sociopath' who is on leave from the local drug rehab facility in a pricey Connecticut burb, to stop by the sprawling family home for sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) lavish wedding. Kym is also in search of a little unconditional love, not likely in an atmosphere where she's most remembered for 'passing out in bathtubs, and restraining orders.' There's also a rising level of unspoken tension beneath the composed family facade in anticipation of the wedding, around Kym's connection to a family tragedy involving a younger brother. Meanwhile, their absentee mom (Debra Winger) drops by, barely aware that she's even a part of this family, while their self-flagellating, emotional wreck of a dad (Bill Irwin) seems to have assumed all parental roles for the duration.***

There are devastating scenes of wrenching family turmoil, when Kym and Mom literally slug it out, and a stunned dinner table confessional where Kym tearfully testifies to the many assembled wedding guests, the consuming guilt, despair and family shame she's been carrying around all these years. And a terrible sorrow all the more dramatically overpowering in the likely not coincidental context of the 2002 drug related death of Demme's young nephew, filmmaker Ted Demme.***

Rachel Getting Married can be a weary ordeal for viewers, as it veers into an odd fusion of unrelieved gabby melodrama and blissed out home movies format. The single saving grace is Hathaway, who ironically disrupts all the good cheer surrounding her, and inevitably rains on everybody's giddy parade.***

Commentary With Actress Rosemarie DeWitt; Commentary With Producer Neda Armian, Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, And Editor Tim Squyres; Cast And Crew Q&A At The Jacob Burns Center; Featurette: The Wedding Band; A Look Behind The Scenes Of Rachel Getting Married; Deleted Scenes.

(Taylor's)- {Bluray} Features:

There are several extras on this disc, although many of them are rather bland and won’t really appeal to anyone but the die-hard fans. There are two commentaries, an actor one and a crew one. Neither one of which is really all that compelling, though they do both have some interesting moments. The big disappointment here is that "Hathaway" doesn’t participate. In standard def are all the behind-the-scenes featurettes and the deleted scenes (rightfully cut from the film if you ask me.) Another disappointment is that the only bonus content in HD (if it can be called such) are the obligatory trailers.

Blu-ray Extra: BD-Live™ enabled, allows users to get connected via an Internet-connected Blu-ray player, download content, give feedback through a survey, and register for rewards.

Final Words: