ANNA WEBBER
Assistant A&E Editor
Walking up to the shelf in a not-so-local video store, the newly released “Friends with Money” DVD was nowhere to be found.
Any average person would be led to believe, “Oh, this must be a good one.” Luckily, there was a copy at the checkout counter. What a relief.
Popping in the DVD, laying back on the couch ready for some good cinema, the movie started, completely passed by, and was over. It was fairly painless but absolutely frustrating.
It was clear — this movie needed a heavy dose of Prozac. The characters lead superficial lives clouded by superficial problems, leaving the audience wanting some good chocolate.
“Friends With Money” is an awkward look into three couples’ marital problems and their terrible dynamics, and a single woman’s loneliness and desperation. The film illustrates all of the characters’ battles with love.
The cast seemed absolutely impressive. Familiar “friend” Jennifer Aniston plays Olivia, who could not be more different than her girl friends, played by Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand and Joan Cusack.
Olivia’s pals are all married and plagued by marital complications and too much money. The movie is a glimpse into their urban lives and their unpleasant relationships, but fails to offer much more than that.The movie toys with modern issues, but mostly makes these issues stupid and dull. There was an extreme amount of talk of the possibility of Jane’s (McDormand’s character) husband possibly being gay, posing such questions as “How can Jane not know?” and “How can he not be gay because of his love for fashion?” Just scratching the surface level, the stereotypical situation completely fails to develop or resolve.
Olivia, who has neither a husband nor loads of money, is a poor and confused maid who is surrounded by good friends — friends that have all the things she desperately wants. Playing the part of the “Old Maid,” Olivia is alone. And what is worse is she cannot afford to buy pampering products like the face cream she cleverly gathers free samples of at her local department store. It is a poor, surface level metaphor for mid-life aging. She is visibly ashamed by her situation, especially after feeling forced to quit her job as a high school teacher because students ridiculed the tired old Honda she drove to school.
The writing is witty enough and each scene is easy to watch, but it never achieves any significant insight or depth as a whole. It might have worked better as a pilot for a sitcom — maybe the next “Seinfeld,” the show about nothing.
The film is a drama that leads off a cliff, down a hole and stops in the dark with barely a glimpse of a conclusion. A movie full of talking at one another and arguing a bad opinion, it has little character development and no plot or climax.
One can argue that is how life is: unsettled. But to have a movie based on that simple concept makes for a frustrated viewer — there is potential for a story, but it never unfolds.
Lacking substance, thought, ingenuity and revelation, the film is about as satisfying as a piece of popcorn on an empty stomach. Like casual chitchat between acquaintances, the dialogue moved along, but it offered nothing.
“Friends with Money” is comparable to another Aniston flick, “The Breakup,” in its ability to make the audience feel like an intruder on the fault lines of an unhealthy relationship.
It is not a movie to watch twice. It is not a movie to watch even once, that is, if you do not like bad movies.
Unfortunately, while the cast was phenomenal, the movie was barely decent.
9-7-2006
