Friends with money

[Dr. John Becker]

I was think about seeing this movie. Anyone who has seen this movie have any comments about it?

[LucyCompanyPhan]

I'm seeing it tomorrow. I'll post a review then.

[LucyCompanyPhan]

My Friends with Money Review



I got problems

About thirty minutes into this film it hit me that this movie is like the more realistic Sex in the City. That's what I thought when watching Nicole Holofcener's new film Friends with Money. In a world that's obsessed with the need of money, we find Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) stuck as the outcast of her married and rich friends. She's a lost character trapped working as a maid and looking for someone to just feel affection for her. Aniston plays the character even though she's the driving focus of the movie, she never feels like the main character, but just a part of a supporting role in this fantastic emsemble. Aniston does the character justice in bringing out Olivia's insecurities and flaws, but still making her tragic enough to carry the film as a likeable character.


The rest of the cast is not without their defects, each having their own problems in their seemingly perfect lives. These problems aren't the type of problems you go spelling out to the world, but rather the inner ones that you only see when you truly get to know a person's character. Frances McDormand's Jane for example has a issues with the motivation of washing her hair. While, it's not life threatening, this gives away that she even though has a great life, she doesn't see the point in doing something that eventually is just be repetitive, getting dirty once again. On the other hand, Christine (Catherine Keener) realizes her problems lie in her selfish husband who she constantly battles for just a small amount of empathy.


What drives this movie is Holofcener's script and dialog. At one point, Joan Cusack's Franny questions the fact that she has so much money and Olivia doesn't, to if they would even be friends if they met today since they don't really have anything in common. Holofcener's script never allows you to question their friendship as the viewer, but only understanding that these characters are different in their own way. It's almost like they all realize that no one is going to understand and love each other as they are now that they have developed the way they have. The movie brings out an irony and truthfulness like when Olivia's character asks Mike (Scott Caan) how much he makes as a person trainer, which then realizaing that she charges the same amount as he does and him infact looking down upon her as a maid when they first meet.The movie is charming, not only confronting the tragic flaws of the character, but it's quite humorous and ironic. Take Aaron's (Simon McBurney) metrosexual manner that keeps everyone guessing his sexuality. His performance is brilliantly comical in his interaction with his new friend Aaron, but also sympathic with his relationship with his wife, Jane in her personal bitterness.


There's alot to say in this movie and alot to say about this movie. It never truly fixes everything, just like the rest of life, but makes you agree or disagree with the character's flaws. The importance of it, is the acceptance of people's problems. The movie is a great take of characters with their own troubles whether their rich or happy or neither. The satisfation of the movie is the realization that anyone can have to their own issues and still have a relationship with a person no matter what their differences are. Nicole Holofcener's film lets you see each character as they don't want to be seen and each flaw that no one else but the viewer sees. The movie is intimate and personal making me wish only that I've could've continued this journey with the rest of the cast even after the movie was over.

***1/2/****