Review of Friends with Money (2006) by A.d. O — 19 Nov 2011

Writer and director Nicole Holofcener (of 2001's wonderful indie "Lovely & Amazing") reengineers her perceptive take on women and friendship in "Friends with Money", an intelligently scripted, finely acted, and deprecatingly humorous movie about the friendship between four women -- three of whom are married and wealthy -- who reflect on their lives, starting with their relationships, with concern and caution, seeing onto that which their futures hold.

Franny, Jane and Christine are married. Franny (Joan Cusack) is the wealthiest of the three, a multimillionaire whose marriage to Matt (Greg Germann) is seemingly void of any problems. Jane (Frances McDormand) is a successful clothing designer whose attitude about life has become mordant and cynical (she flares up in public with little reason and forgoes washing her hair because "it will just get dirty again, so what's the point?"), leaving Aaron (Simon McBurney), her caring, though possibly gay, husband worried. Lastly, Christine (Catherine Keener), a screenwriter, attempts to revitalize her dissipating marriage to David (Jason Isaacs), whose insensitivity and ruthless honesty has put her in the pits.

Meanwhile, Olivia (Jennifer Aniston), the youngest of the four and the only one unmarried, has recently quit a promising teaching job at a high-end school for a lesser-paying one as a housemaid. As her years have passed, she's grown anxious to meet the right person (for marriage), and has taken to smoking pot and the idea that her best chance for happiness is with her ex-boyfriend, who has long since moved on. When Franny sets Olivia up on a blind date with her personal trainer (Scott Caan), everything appears to be taking a turn for the better. But when he turns out to be another disappointment, Olivia is left to find joy in an unexpected friend: a shy, stocky, thirty-something man (Bob Stephenson), whose house she cleans.

Nicole Holofcener's sincere script is filled with canny, insightful dialogue that plays a heavy role in expanding the characters that have been introduced to us, the bulk of which we come to adore. The four leads contribute realistic, soulful performances that exemplify very much of what Holofcener's writing says about success and romance in our modern world, and their presence onscreen never feels bloated or unwanted -- something most films with multiple leads are unable to evade. In addition to the dead-on screenplay and the also marvelous direction of the film, "Friends with Money" benefits on a large scale from the honest, sometimes nervous, outlook it has on relationships altogether: whether they be with one's partner in marriage or friendship, or with attachments they've entailed (such as a job or career), relationships are never easy cake and require commitment and adjustment in order to be maintained. Nobody says it better, or in a more engaging way, than Nicole Holofcener, whose "Friends with Money" is her best work yet, and will have you thinking as much as it will have you laughing and smiling.