FRIENDS WITH MONEY

Director: Nicole Holofcener (1st feature film, TV work)
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusak

Friends with Money is one of those movies that seems like it should be better than it is. It has a powerhouse cast and a dry 'bittersweet' tone that's reminiscent of Aniston's quite nice picture The Good Girl. The subject is female relationships and maintaining them through money issues, and love issues, and other issues. Unfortunately, in the end the movie feels incomplete and a little shallow. Really, in the end, the movie just doesn't feel very interesting. As a comparison, Sex in the City is also about female relationships, and yet even at its worst that series never felt as weak and uninteresting as this film does throughout. It's a movie of potential, that doesn't really pan out.

The story follows 4 women in their romantic relationships, and their various personal struggles, although it primarily focuses on the financially poor Aniston and her relationship with her wealthier friends. I don't think I'll bother to go into a description of the plot as nothing seemed very important in the specifics. There were some bits about additions to homes, and donations to schools. I will say that I didn't really like the ending where Aniston finds a chubby sugar-daddy to (seemingly) solve all her problems. It was one of the bleakest happy endings I've ever seen.

At times Friends with Money is cute and funny. Unfortunately, at many others it's somewhat nondescript. It's a rather forgettable film. Certainly I will forget all about it immediately after writing this review. There ... I've done it already. It's forgotten.

Standouts: I'm not sure, I seem to have forgotten.
Blowouts: What was I talking about? Something about a movie? I don't know.

Grade: C