Jennifer Aniston Movie:

Editorial Review:
With her third feature, Friends With Money, writer-director Nicole Holofcener continues to develop one of the most distinctive voices in American independent filmmaking. While not as purely satisfying as her previous films Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing, Holofcener's third feature is admirably ambitious in establishing a diverse and dynamic range of relationships among long-time girlfriends, their spouses (for better and worse), and the way in which money (or lack of it) affects them all. The have-not of the group is Olivia (Jennifer Aniston), a teacher-turned pot-smoking housecleaner in the upscale neighborhoods of West Los Angeles. She's drifting, uncertain of her future both professionally and romantically, while her friends Franny (Joan Cusack), Christine (Catherine Keener), and Jane (Frances McDormand) cope with the relatively enviable problems of wealthy discontentment. They've all got personal crises to resolve, and while Olivia juggles the affections of a likable louse (Scott Caan) and a lonely slob who's secretly rich (Bob Stephenson), Holofcener taps a rich vein of humor and melancholy as these women go about their daily routines, attending benefits, chatting over meals, and doting over Olivia as the "needy one" in their closed circle of friendships. All of this is richly observed and wonderfully acted (with male costars played by Greg Germann, Jason Isaacs, and Simon McBurney), but reaction to Friends With Money is strictly a matter of personal taste. Holofcener isn't telling a story so much as examining lives in various states of disarray, and she offers no false comforts or simple resolutions. Like life, Friends With Money just continues on its way, with some friends happier than others. There's plenty of truth to be found, if you know where to look.--Jeff Shannon

Friends with Money Reviews:
An unfortunate waste of talent
2009-11-29 - The general plot of the story is centered around Jennifer Anniston's character, a 30 something School Teacher cum Domestic who has lost her way in life and retreated into a mundane, unchallanging routine, dating unlikely romantic prospects (extremely unlikely) as her affluent friends (beset by their own mid-life issues) pitch in now and again to help her escape her downward spiral.
There are some truely outstanding talents in this cast.
That is the only reason that the audience might care what happens to them.
The dialog (that screams for comedic relief) is an ongoing exposition of mid-life angst.
The date scenes are almost painful to watch.

Does one really need to pay to see this?

The writer/director dropped the ball on this one, exposing a crushing, deep rooted ennui rather than writing something that might entertain, be poinant..... elict some emotion other than apathy.

Given what this cast must have added to humanize this script, I might recommend that the writer seek professional help as quickly as possible. She has other credits considerably more memorable than this, clear evidence that a writer should not tackle a comedy while popping Prozak (I'm guessing on this last, but can't imagine being far off the mark).

Fun Film.
2009-06-25 - This was a fun film and arrived in pristine condition AND on time! Thanks!

For the 35+year old viewer only
2009-06-13 - If you are not at least in your mid-thirties you will not get anything out of this movie, so do not bother seeing it. You really need at least 15 or 20 post college years under you belt before this movie you will resonate with you at all.

As a woman in that 35 and above range, I found this movie really interesting. It is not particularly funny, certainly not uplifting,was pretty leisurely paced, and with a lot of characters who mostly made me feel irritated and impatient. But it is a very true slice of life in which I can see my life and the lives of my married friends.


Awful
2009-03-07 - I bought this out of curiosity to see the new Jennifer Aniston movie more than anything else. The movie sucked balls. After watching it I wanted to jam a screwdriver into my brain to erase the memory of having wasted precious minutes of my life watching this pointless meandering drivel. I donated the DVD along with a bunch of other really bad movies (Sideways, etc) to the local library.

Jennifer Aniston a maid? Yeah, right.....
2009-01-21 - We all know that Jennifer Aniston the actress is attractive, classy, and glamorous. The character she plays in this movie is pretty much the same thing. This begs the question: how the heck would someone like that ever end up having to clean other people's toilets for a living?

You keep waiting for a credible explanation--perhaps she suffers from severe neuroses, some oddball personality traits, maybe she suffered some horrible trauma as a child that has rendered her a total basket case...anything that would explain why she does not avail herself of the opportunities readily available to people like her.

But no. All we see is a tall, slim, good-looking white woman with great hair and clothes who walks and talks with the poise and confidence of the privileged upper middle class. We're supposed to believe that someone like this can't find any other job and has to compete against non-English speaking immigrants to find houses to clean for a living? The premise is simply not believable, and the whole thing falls flat as a result.

There are plenty of glamorous actresses who play against type very effectively (Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, to name a couple recent examples). But that ain't happening in this movie.