trailer here (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/friendswithmoney/)
it's by the lady who did lovely and amazing, which was great. this seemed like a real lady movie, too.
synopsis:
FRIENDS WITH MONEY examines the shifting relationships between four women who have been friends all of their adult lives. Now as they settle into their early middle age, their friendship is increasingly challenged by the ever-growing disparity in their individual degrees of financial comfort. It is a poignant snapshot of the way we live today, where the safe divisions that class and money have created are eroding under the unstoppable force of everyday life and the result is a painfully hilarious examination of modern life that manages to be both brutally honest and ultimately uplifting.
The three friends with money, Frannie (Joan Cusack), Jane (Frances McDormand), and Christine (Catherine Keener), share a concern for Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) who seems unable to make a living or sustain a relationship at least by their standards. Their group examination of her lack of options magnifies each of their own doubts and concerns about the marriages and careers to which they have committed themselves.
Olivia, meanwhile, drifts through each of her friends' lives, at times avoiding the issue of money altogether, and at other times accepting her friends' painful generosity. Ultimately, Olivia will find satisfaction and stability from an unexpected place, but her own somewhat happy ending is muted by the harsh reality of the suddenly disassembled lives of her best friends.
FRIENDS WITH MONEY is also about the unexpected challenges of being an adult. It is about facing the reality of one's place in the world; about confronting a new stage of sexuality and attractiveness; about realizing you still have lots of time left to live even though many of life¹s major benchmarks may be behind you. It is about being honest with yourself and those you care most deeply about. Does a degree of financial security conscript one to a life of comfort that ultimately becomes a kind of gilded cage? Does a reduced measure of financial security, in fact, represent a greater degree of freedom and choice? The film forces into focus a strong group of relationships that have long gone unexamined, as each confronts a new stage in life.
Hell yeah pete.
Every time I see this trailer Frances McDormand cracks me up. I'm going to go see it Monday.
ebert, who described Lovely & Amazing as one of his favorite movies, gave it a thumbs down.
QuoteBut the film is a field day for actresses. And their teamwork is a thing of beauty. When the film premiered at Sundance in January, nit-pickers wanted more narrative drive and clear-cut motivations. Know what? For lots of back story and no loose ends, watch TV. For a movie rich in hilarity, heartbreak and a sense of life in all its vibrant, messy sprawl, watch Friends With Money. It touches a nerve.
Peter Travers. (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/7539506/rid/9579226/?rnd=1144595721655&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1465)
But what's the point of battling it out with critics' opinions when I'm going to go see it Monday.
Quote from: pete on April 07, 2006, 01:02:54 PM
trailer here (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/friendswithmoney/)
it's by the lady who did lovely and amazing, which was great.
Yes!!! I'm really looking forward to this. It's opening here in Seattle next weekend, along with
Notorious Bettie Page. Holofcener and Harron: two fine and sorely underappreciated American "lady movie" makers who (along with Lisa Cholodenko) actually make you sincerely ask yourself the cliched question about women filmmakers: why so few, and why so little appreciation?
Fucking hillarious.
I saw it with three other people and everyone liked it. The whole theater was laughing. A really good time.
Except the ending. Goddamnit tidying everything up.
"You know she's never seen his ass hole."
Just saw it. Good acting, some good scenes, but overall disappointing and frankly pretty boring. The unresolved stuff felt more lazy than artful. I'm afraid the movie is as empty-headed and pretentious as the characters in it.
Looked at another way, it really felt more like a television pilot with more to come.
I was supposed to get dragged to this with my girlfriend but luckily I got too drunk and started throwing up.
Quote from: Gamblour le flambeur on May 07, 2006, 09:16:18 PM
I was supposed to get dragged to this with my girlfriend but luckily I got too drunk and started throwing up.
best review of the year (so far).
Quote from: Losing the Horse: on April 17, 2006, 01:34:29 AM
Fucking hillarious.
I saw it with three other people and everyone liked it. The whole theater was laughing. A really good time.
Except the ending. Goddamnit tidying everything up.
"You know she's never seen his ass hole."
I had exactly the same experience as you, right down to seeing it with three other people who liked it. AND I feel similarly about the ending, though I became more forgiving the more I thought about it. WHY did he have to turn out to be rich? I can't see any reason it wouldn't have been a huge improvement for him just to be a slacker who was a good fit for the Aniston character.
Anyway, I've really enjoyed both of the Holofcener films I've seen, even if they do tend to veer just a bit too close to being low-key in the lazy Sundance way instead of low-key in the relaxed Altman way (I'm talking tone, of course, rather than plot/character specifics).
spoiler
I just came back from it. the acting was great, but somehow, the "poignant" ending or whatever ended up making the film a bit more petty. I enjoyed a lot of the revelations, those were the best parts of the film--like when the husband turned out to be a dick, the guy turned out to be not gay...etc., but those revelations were offset by the final ones that veered into Ang Lee (from his Father Knows Best trilogy particularly) territory, except this film didn't have the happy-go-lucky tone of Lee's films. One of the subtle final revelations in which joan cusack looked at her maid with a merry twinkle in her eye reminded me too much of Sandra Bullock's love for Lupe in Crash. Bad taste.
but anyways, it was like one of those date films for the emma thompson crowd, which my date definitely fell into, so the film served its utilitarian purpose that way. I kinda found out too late about a langhorne slim concert that was going on at the same time though, and I'm not sure if a date to see friends with money on a monday is worth missing langhorne slim. anyone seen him live?
Quote from: pete on May 22, 2006, 11:18:27 PM
anyone seen him live?
a few times. hung out with him once and watched him hit on kimya dawson