Review of Your Friends & Neighbors (1998) by Stephen E — 06 Apr 2012

Neil LaBute's "Your Friends & Neighbors" is quite possibly the meanest film I have ever seen. These characters are some of, if not, the worst I have ever come across. What makes them worse than, say Hannibal Lecter, is how they stealthily move behind each others backs to wound each other in the worst and most emotionally damaging ways.

You should not be treading lightly when you sit down to view this picture. It's a nasty piece of work. So then why is my rating so high? Because it's also a terrific film. The acting is tremendous and LaBute (who is also a playwright) has some insanely fine tuned dialogue.

My guess is that if you don't like hard relationship drama's like "Closer" you wont even come across "Your Friends & Neighbors," and I think that those who search it out will find much to admire.

Think of this film as what would become of the college kids in Roger Avery's "The Rules of Attraction" once they hit middle age.