courtesy of Paramount Vantage Nicole Kidman (left) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (right) play sisters Margot and Pauline in Noah Baumbach’s new film “Margot at the Wedding.”

With actors such as Nicole Kidman, Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Margot at the Wedding" should have been a surefire comic masterpiece.

It isn't.

Writer and director Noah 'Baumbach's follow-up to his Academy Award-nominated "The Squid and the Whale" is underdeveloped, drawn out and not as funny as you'd think a film with Jack Black would be.

The film begins with New England writer Margot (Kidman) and her son Claude (Zane Pais) riding a shaky train along the Eastern seaboard to visit her sister Pauline (Leigh) and Pauline's daughter Ingrid (Flora Cross) at their family home. Margot is visiting to attend Pauline's wedding to less-than-ambitious fiance Malcolm (Black).

Malcolm is a strange character who has no job and wears a mustache because it's "meant to be funny." He's an artist who never really grew up but somehow finds himself about to be married and become a father.

Pauline refers to Margot as her closest friend, even though the two haven't seen each other in years and don't get along. Margot is partially to blame for this, as she made the mistake of including her sister's mishaps in past writings, something Pauline has found impossible to forgive.

The estranged sisters agree to bury the hatchet for the weekend, but that becomes difficult when it's obvious that Margot hates Malcolm.

"He's like guys we rejected when we were 16," Margot says to her sister.

Of course, Margot's rampant drug use and constant drinking don't help the situation either.

The bitter rivalry and emotional exchanges between the sisters are the most enjoyable parts of the movie. Their feelings toward each other often switch from love to hatred in mere minutes.

In one scene, Margot collapses into Pauline's arms in a fit of laughter, like only sisters would, after reminiscing about Pauline's teenage boyfriend. Only a couple scenes later, they fight over who has slept with more men. Kidman and Leigh show sibling rivalry at its most real and vulnerable moments.

Margot's own life is full of other problems, as well.

She is on the verge of dumping her husband (John Turturro), whom she finds despicable for no apparent reason, is sleeping with the neighbor down the road and is terribly protective of her son.

Margot is so controlling of Claude that she won't let him wear deodorant because she's afraid he'll get cancer from the chemicals.

The family is unbelievably dysfunctional. The combination of divorce, infidelity, drug use and sexual traumas create a giant train wreck. The characters end up wallowing in their own self-pity for a majority of the film.

Kidman and Leigh inject life into their characters and make them as interesting as possible, but Baumbach's writing doesn't take them anywhere. Viewers learn all of Margot's and Pauline's strengths and faults, but nothing happens to them. There isn't a clear plot or moral climax to which they can react.

Black's portrayal of Malcolm also has its faults. He stays true to character until the end of the film when he weeps over possibly losing Pauline. Black's comedic personality shows through in a scene that is supposed to be emotional and serious. His blubbering is unbelievable and completely out of place.

Malcolm has the potential to be the most interesting character in the movie but, instead, becomes the most annoying.

Stylistically, the jittery camerawork makes the film seem like a documentary. In one scene, Claude and Ingrid are confronted in a field by a neighbor boy and the camera darts and shakes around, which adds to the intensity of the shot.

Although the camerawork may be spot-on, the film as a whole is not.

Despite a couple of compelling performances and innovative camerawork, the film lacks something very important: a clear story line.

Plot: C-

Acting: B-

Cinematography: A-

Overall: C+