Cinema connoisseurs of the 1990s are in for a treat with Millers in Marriage, a relatively low-key family drama featuring several prominent performers from that decade who’ve had fewer opportunities in the years since. The last time Minnie Driver, Gretchen Mol, Julianna Margulies, Campbell Scott, and Edward Burns (who wrote and directed) regularly got roles this prominent was around the time of the Clinton impeachment.
The film’s plot is a rehash of Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters, built around three siblings, all at various stages of having affairs, as the characters hang around luxurious estates in both the city and country; the film was shot at various locations in New Jersey. That was also the basic premise of Burns’ directorial debut The Brothers McMullen, which arrived in 1995 as an acclaimed indie drama at the zenith of the of genre (it was released by Fox Searchlight but felt like a Miramax film).
Burns, who’s chugged along as an actor and director, is now back with a version of that premise with the performers in their 50s rather than their 20s, featuring same-age contemporaries. It’s a mature, thoughtful work that makes good use of its oft-underused cast. Rather than three sisters or three brothers, this movie’s siblings are a brother and two sisters, and this time, they’re all creative types. Burns is Andy, an artist who recently split from his wife (Morena Baccarin) and now dating a new woman (Minnie Driver), although his ex isn’t content to let things lie.
Eve (1990s It Girl Gretchen Mol) is a sometime indie musician who’s on the outs with her surly, alcoholic husband (Patrick Wilson) and contemplating a fling with a rock critic (Benjamin Bratt). Maggie (Julianna Margulies) is a writer in a Star is Born-like dynamic with her older husband (Campbell Scott), as her career is rising while his is falling. Brian D’Arcy James isn’t the most intuitive choice to play a seducer, but he pulls it off.
All of these familiar faces perform fairly well, although Driver steals the show as a woman who, much like her character in Good Will Hunting almost 30 years ago, ends up disappointed in her promising new boyfriend. Most of the scenes consist of dialogue between two characters as they come to terms with regrets about the past and their choices. There are also some bold narrative choices, including various flashbacks that are embedded within scenes.
Parents and kids aren’t part of the equation; the siblings’ parents are established deceased, while the couples are all either childless or have kids already out of the house.