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ACTOR
Jennifer AnistonFrances McDormandCatherine KeenerJoan Cusack
DIRECTOR
Nicole Holofcener
SYNOPSICS
Friends with Money (2006) is a English,Spanish movie. Nicole Holofcener has directed this movie. Jennifer Aniston,Frances McDormand,Catherine Keener,Joan Cusack are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2006. Friends with Money (2006) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama,Romance movie in India and around the world.
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Friends with Money (2006) Reviews
If this were a television series...
I would watch it weekly without fail. The characters are 3D, their lives interesting, the dialog graceful and funny...so why was I so disappointed by and frustrated with this movie? Because there just needed to be more. The short running time compacts all the problems and situations down to bare essentials, and there is too much going on for this film to skim across the surface the way it does. I guess the point is to show us a snapshot of these people at a very specific point in their lives, and then move on. The more-than-able cast certainly helps--particularly Frances McDormand, who can do more with just her eyes and mouth than most actors can with a page of script (just watch the way she looks at everything around her--especially other people). And while I am a huge fan of 70s-style non-endings, I admit that this movie's abrupt stop (after a very convenient and pat wrap-up) left me with an "Eh" kind of feeling. While it is certainly watchable and interesting AS FAR AS IT GOES, this movie is no "Walking and Talking." Have you seen that movie? "W and T" is absolutely brilliant, another small portrait of long-time female friends, but because it narrows its scope to two characters in a particular situation (one's wedding), it achieves all the depth and poignancy and hilarity that "Friends with Money" lacks. If "F w/ M" were a TV series, if it fully explored the characters' lives and situations in some depth and detail, I'd be its #1 fan. Maybe the DVD will include deleted scenes (say about 40 or 50) and the movie will finally feel complete.
Quietly comic exploration of mid-life
It's true that this movie is utterly bereft of car crashes and blood, but both my husband and I enjoyed it very much. I found it very refreshing to spend time in the company of people my age whose lives are not non-stop excitement, who are not trying to escape from terrorists/having sex with an unending stream of nubile blondes/both. Yes, this movie is dialogue-driven, and yes, many of the comments and even conversations will seem familiar. I enjoyed watching and hearing people I could genuinely relate to, discussing problems which, if not all directly paralleling my own concerns, I could at least understand. The movie deals with the role that money has in personal happiness and how it changes the dynamics of friendships, and effectively shows that while money is neither a universal panacea, neither is it the root of all evil. One of the interesting questions the movie raises is also what you focus on and contemplate when money isn't an issue for you. I thought the movie accurately portrays many of the misgivings that women in their 40s experience, even when they're financially comfortable--dealing with Olivia's feelings of *invisibility*, Jane's quiet despair at the loss of the hopeful anticipation with which she used to view her upcoming life, Christine's external expression of her mental off-balancedness and gracelessness. There are plenty of movies out there directed at 18-year-old skateboarding ninja-fiends--is it so wrong to make one for me?? I found the performances (especially Jason Isaacs' overbearing and emotionally heedless American husband) compelling and believable, and I enjoyed this movie a lot.
Woody Allen in slow-mo, but McDormand shines
"Friends with Money" is Americana the sit-com way: it is about older, (much) more monied, West Coast clones of TV's loathsome "Friends." Although it appears a slow-mo imitation of Woody Allen at his talkiest, the film does well. The reason: a quartet of actresses having a ball. Nicole Holofcener's script and direction are merely OK: a medium-funny, not very insightful soap about three couples and a single woman (Jennifer Anniston), who is younger than her six friends, jobless, aimless, sloppy and rather annoying. Of the three husbands, only Simon McBurney is outstanding, but he really is, the English actor turning in a wonderful performance as a super-nice metrosexual. Anniston does her best, which here works better than in any of her other roles. But "Friends with Money" is worth seeing because of - in order - Frances McDormand's huge star turn, with her unsuppressed rage turning into petty, ordinary rudeness; Catherine Keener, sleepwalking through affluence; and Joan Cusack, as a nice mega-rich woman without guilt or troubling thoughts. The pace is glacial and steady; after a while, the film settles into a pleasant, moderately quirky flow, until a sudden and inconclusive end. Through it all, performances are to be enjoyed, and in McDormand's case, treasured. Never again will you be able go without washing your hair and not think of Frances McDormand.
Been There, Done That
Not only is this not a groundbreaking film, it's not a particularly pleasant, or enjoyable one either. It centers around a group of early 40s-somethings who hate their lives, their spouses and their place in the world. The casting of Aniston is strange, as she is easily 10 years younger then her circle of friends. While you'd think that the film is trying to state "happiness has nothing to do with how much money you have", the opposite appears to be true as the more elevated couples do have less problems. And, if fact, all of Aniston's problems are seemingly solved when she manages to snag a wealthy (albeit slacker) guy herself. While the three married couples do have children, they don't add anything to the story, as they seem more like convenient accessories than meaningful relations. While that may be a creative choice, the fact that it runs across all three couples identically makes me inclined to believe it's just sloppy, two-dimensional screen writing. None of the story lines are brought full circle and the entire exercise feels like a long death march towards irrelevance. Several interesting notions are addressed, but none closely examined or fully developed. While there are poignant moments and some nice creative decisions (i.e. allowing the actors to look their age), this genre has been mined before to better results (i.e. "Grand Canyon").
Who cares
I could sum up this whole movie experience with two words: Who cares. Group of extremely dislikable people and their self-centered and meaningless lives rambling about their non-existing problems. I don't have to like the characters, I don't have to feel close to them, I could even hate them, but, on some basic level I have to care what happens to them. That is not the case with this superficial and contrived movie. And to top it all, the cast of such talented and interesting actresses wasting their time to enliven this carcass of a movie. If you are trying to tell a story, it has to have some natural progression, and , for Goodness sake, some purpose. " Friends with Money" has none whatsoever.