Review of Friends with Money (2006) by Claire G — 26 Mar 2009

I watched this again on dvd and realized how much I truly enjoy this film. With an amazingly insightful screenplay from writer/director Nicole Holofcener, this is one good dramedy that has been unfortunately overlooked.

Here are four lifelong friends who are at different stages in their lives. A soccer mom who apparently "has it all"- money and a good working marriage; a writer who constantly bickers with her husband who is her writing partner; a designer who is going through menopause and doesn't know it; and an unemployed and the only single friend who is still searching for what she truly wants at 40.

They may not have been friends at all had they met at present, as Joan's soccer mom character opines, considering the disparities between their lives and financial standing. But they have become each others' confidante that there is no more questioning loyalties here.

Money is talked about unabashedly. The interesting bit is how one friend has obscene amounts of it she can donate millions to her son's school, and how Olivia the unemployed friend is cleaning houses because she has none of it. Yet we see Olivia doesn't feel inferior towards her rich friends. We later see she is hungry for something more than just money.

Having a woman writer pen stories about womens' complex lives make quite an impact. The seemingly trite situations become pregnant with so many messages. When the bare truth is said, it's funny and poignantly sad altogether. And we laugh knowing full well there are painful truths about women only another woman can truly fathom.