Friends with Money (2006)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Absolutely brilliant

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Friends With MoneyA smart and more importantly a mature way to approach the episodes of lives of old ordinary friends that is shockingly gripping and funny for around 90 minutes. The writer-director Nicole Holofcener knows its strength i.e. unpredictable natured script, that thickens more and more as it ages on the screen and offers some of the most developed feature in this genre, if not the best. Sharing their screen time, all the leading ladies; Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand and Catherine Keener, are upto their mark and delivers the best in their limited span. Friends With Money is sharp, to the point and fast paced script that twists its way around the sub-plots holding them onto their seat and offers something new which is always rare.

Here is another female-helmed movie without point or rhyme or reason. The director gets a few characters together and puts them in situations where they do what they do without ever coming to any kind of realisation about anything, or any sort of climax or resolution. These movies are watchable but forgettable.This is the one with Jennifer Aniston, who seems much younger than her circle of friends played by - who else - Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack. They have husbands who are barely glimpsed except for one Roman Polanski doppelganger whom everyone thinks is gay. The movie suggests maybe he is... or isn't. It's never resolved, and you find yourself wondering what the point is.Aniston quits her job and becomes a maid for what must be a greatly reduced pay scale in order to justify the movie's title. However the central theme of her making less money than her friends is also totally undercooked and not explored in any meaningful way. If it wasn't called "Friends with money" you'd probably not even notice that that was intended to be the theme of the movie. What sticks out far more is Aniston's relative youth and beauty in contrast to her well off yet miserable, unhappily married friends, as women always are in movies like this. It hurts to say she was miscast however, because she is the movie's only source of life.

Friends With Money (2006): Dir: Nicole Holofcener / Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack, Jason Isaacs: Comedy that relates to gossip about the supposed lives of others. Screenplay begins with potential but its four subplots are too much or not enough attention given too. The ending is abrupt leaving viewers wondering if that was it? Directed by Nicole Holofcener but neither pulls through as comedy or drama. What he succeeds with is a great cast of leading ladies. Jennifer Aniston plays a former teacher now maid who struggles financially and is dealing with a broken relationship. Catherine Keener plays a frustrated wife who cannot communicate with her stubborn husband. Frances McDormand is easily irritated and unaware that her husband is homosexual. Joan Cusack is rich yet unable to communicate on level with her friends. Each has their dilemmas and each suffers through relationships that are exhausting them. This also causes friction with each other when their issues overwhelm the others. The strength here is that they all find refuge in each other even if they often overstep their boundaries. Unfortunately the male characters are secondary and not very broad. It is a well made film despite being disjointed and sometimes overly predictable. Theme is communication and how we perceive others and then continue to live with them. Score: 6 ½ / 10

Was it just me or did this movie seem very short? I felt like the plot could have done more but it still was enough to get me thinking. Jennifer Aniston's character was made to seem the most likable, to me anyway which I think is intended, despite her little devious habits on the side like theft and snooping around people's houses during her job. So it was interesting and creepily realistic to think that she, the most humble, unfortunate and yet most physically attractive of all the female characters ended up with the greasy haired socially awkward couch potato because they had the most in common when it came to their honest views and morals compared to everyone else. This movie also displays some raw opinions of aging that moved me and seriously got me thinking about what we should be doing when we are young and where we should be when we are old.