“Friends With Money” (Sony Picture Classics)
Too Much Talk & Not Enough Action
Jennifer Aniston has yet to find the right vehicle for her talent on the big screen. She has starred in one flop after another and her latest “Friends With Money” may not break the curse. Maybe if “Friends With Money” co-starred some of her TV “Friends” she would be better off.
In this new film Aniston is very good at creating her character of Olivia, a woman who stopped teaching and started cleaning other people’s houses. It just seemed like the thing she wanted to do. She isn’t married, she isn’t even in a relationship, and she is just drifting through life.
Olivia’s best friends are Jane (Frances McDormand), Christine (Catherine Keener) and Franny (Joan Cusack). Jane and Christine are comfortable but Franny is loaded. Olivia is the only one who is struggling.
This does not mean her friends don’t have their problems. Jane’s husband (Simon McBurney) is devoted to her but everyone thinks he is gay because of his mannerisms and attitudes. Christine’s husband (Jason Isaacs) is a tyrant. Franny’s husband (Greg Germann) loves to spend money – her money.
The movie shows all these situations and let’s the characters talk about their situations endlessly. The movie is talk from beginning to end with very little activity in between. And the message of the movie is either (a) all people, whether rich or not, have problems, or (b) rich people have fewer problems than people without money.
All of the actors are good in the film with Keener being the standout. It seems with each role she gets better and better. Opposite her Isaacs is equally good as her husband David. When these two are sparring back and forth the movie comes to life.
The film is rated R for profanity and sexual situations.
As a study of people and the paths they choose, “Friends With Money” is interesting, for a while. But then the constant dialogue grows boring and the movie just fades away into oblivion. It is forgotten as quickly as it takes to exit the theater’s doors.
Perhaps “The Break-up” will be a good vehicle for Aniston’s talent. I hope it is. She was so good when she was a part of “Friends.” It is being a part of movies like “Friends With Money” that is causing her career to suffer.
I scored “Friends With Money” a poverty stricken 4 out of 10.
