Release Date: April 21, 2006
MPAA Rating: R for language, some sexual content and brief drug use
Written and Directed by: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, K.C. Clyde, Bobby Coleman, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Jason Isaacs, Scott Caan, Greg Germann, Simon McBurney
Plot:
Tale of four west coast, life-long friends, who have achieved a level of comfort in their lives and have now settled into a life of designer clothes, charity events, and caring for the men (and offspring) in their lives. But as they approach 'a certain age,' unsettling things are starting to throw their comfortable lives off balance.
Review:
In every sense of the word, Friends with Money is a chick flick. A romantic comedy that is a study on marriage and how relationships work. This film is about friends and how you need them for advice, company and to continue a strong life. In this mix, there is one single female who is Olivia played by Jennifer Aniston. She's constantly looking for work and for a man she can settle down with. Throughout the film her friends set her up on dates and help her financially.
This all sounds good, but Friends with Money is missing something. It wants to make a point and have a message heard, but overall its weak and its conclusion isn't effective because it doesn't earn it. The film runs on dialogue and funny situations and the former is definitely on the positive side. However, this films leads you to believe that something is actually going to happen, something life changing for all of them, but it falls flat in that area.
Friends with Money was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener who also made Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing. She knows this genre well and most of the time succeeds. What we have here is a misfire, an incomplete film that truly has no accomplishment aside from what each of them are learning about themselves. While the dialogue is sharp, the direction here has some scenes running longer than they should and can slowly lose some viewers attention span.
There aren't any situations in Friends with Money that stand out, the typical locations are at homes and diners. The creativity is missing here and instead what we have is an average chick flick rather than an intriguing one, like it should have been. The cast is solid throughout though delivering good acting from Aniston, McDormand, Cusack and Keener as well as the guys in the film. What this film handles well is its conflicts which is realistic and makes sense of middle aged women.
Friends with Money has its fun and laughter, especially from Frances McDormand. One cannot erase the emptiness of this film though, its evident. Clearly, Holofcener thought that she has made an effective film that some will even be emotionally involved, but Friends with Money doesn't trigger any emotions whatsoever. This is the type of film that you come out neither liking it nor disliking it, its just there. From a female perspective this can work better, perhaps because the film is generally on the woman's point of view. I can't picture anyone claiming it to be much more than just a passable film though.
One can wonder what this film was about and it truly has no specific story. Its an experience, something to learn, thats it. Even in those places, it falls short of being passable. This film is on average at best and its very flawed of what it wanted to be. The performances are on key and Aniston is the best we seen her since The Good Girl. This is another film in which the performances are superior than its story and at the end of it all, Friends with Money is a disappointment and its exactly how a carved pumpkin is, Hollow.
