- Title: Friends with Money
- IMDb: link
I wish Jennifer Aniston would get a new agent. She stars in some really horrendous films and yet finds nice supporting roles in films like She’s the One and Office Space. Then last year she finally hit paydirt in starring in one of the better films of the year in Rumor Has It, but it seems things are back to normal with the regrettable The Break-Up and Friends with Money as well providing yet more disappointment for fans of the girl we fell for as Rachel Green.
The film centers around three married women (Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener) and their single friend Olivia (Jennifer Aniston). The women are all well off even if they live somewhat scattered lives. Jane (McDormand) is married to a loving husband (Simon McBurney) whom everyone believes is gay. Franny (Cusack) is married to a loving husband (Greg Germann) with more money than they know what to do with. Christine (Keener) is stuck in a marriage and professional partnership with an emotionally distant man (Jason Isaacs). And then there’s Olivia who quit her job teaching in order to become a maid.
The film follows these characters together and separately through two weeks of their lives. We see the loving marriage of Franny and Matt, the troubled marriage of Christine and David and the “funny” stories of everyone thinking Aaron is gay while his wife goes apeshit on complete strangers with the littlest cause or reason. While this is going on Olivia cleans some houses, stalks a married ex-boyfriend and starts having sex with Franny’s personal trainer (Scott Caan). None of which is more interesting than sitting on your porch and watching what happens in your neighborhood daily.
The minimalist plot is just an excuse to provide these actors with some plum roles. If the story were given half the attention of the characters than the film would have turned out quite good. Alas, what we are left with is an acting exercise. The film fails our “Oscar Bait Rule” where a group of good actors get together on a small independent film not to tell an important story or make a good film but to pad their resume and try to snag themselves a shiny statue at the end of the year.
Now it’s true that I’m not exactly the target audience for this particular flick but with actresses and characters like these wasted on what amounts to little more than going through the motions I think even the most staunch supporter of this type of fim would pause for at least a moment if not two. The performances themselves warrant some attention but I can’t quite bring myself to recommend a film that relies solely on the performances of its stars while allowing the rest of the film to suffer.