Friends With Money

This is a brief glimpse at the lives of 7 friends, 3 married couples with money and their single friend,( Jennifer Anniston), who works as a maid and is pretty much broke.
One couple are very wealthy, another couple are screenwriters whose marriage is collapsing in bitterness and the final couple consist of a husband everybody assumes is gay and his menopausal wife who is getting decidedly cranky. The odd one out is Jennifer Annistons maid who had to leave her job as a teacher because of the snide behaviour of the middle class pupils whose clueless snobbery,( that you aren't shown ), is reflected in the way her friends treat her.
One friend matches her up with a charmless pig of a man but she eventually finds someone to love in an unexpected direction.
There is much to admire in the self discipline the director applies to her handling of this movie. The individual storylines are not all neatly 'tied up' in the end, instead there is a satisfying feeling that these peoples lives could go in a varity of directions after we have left them. The running time is little over 1hr 20 mins which means the story can be moved along at a good pace and there is no time for pointless waffle or long periods where nothing happens. Each moment is fully utilized and very quickly you start to feel you know these people,( but you don't and the expected cliches are avoided so that there are one or two surprises),.
The script is sharp and although there is humour this is not a comedy. The actors all bring their best to their roles and provide lifelike characters that draw you in. Standouts are Francis Mcdormands crumbling but funny menopausal woman, angry, confused and desperately trying to get a grip and Jennifer Anniston gives her best performance so far as damaged, lonely and odd friend out.
The picture and sound are fine and it makes a refreshing change to have a non-intrusive soundtrack that isn't trying to advertise itself throughout.
The extras aren't really up to much as they don't add up to much more than a series of stating the obvious and back slapping. I haven't heard the directors chat track but it's nice to have it included.
If you want to step up a gear from the relentless line of rom-coms being churned out lately and fancy something adult and thoughtful then I recommend this, it will entertain you and give you something to think about.

Normally I'd try to eat my left leg before watching a film about 'modern relationships in middle class America'. But FWM was a pleasant surprise. It would be too easy to throw rotten tomatoes at this for it's 'boo hoo it's horrible being middle aged and rich' plot line. But then it's handled so well that it's hard not to like the film. The interactions between the married couples is spot on, all that stuff not said being more important that what is said. Thank God there's nothing mawkish about the kids. There's a couple of pretty funny 'oh, he really is gay' type jokes. Plus Anniston plays it just right as the aimless, meandering pot-head.

The only bad points. The ending is too twee and Anniston is just too pretty to be so unlucky and so naive with men.

I'm all for movies that are full of dialogue, making you think and reflecting life as opposed to fairytale cliched storylines, and I thought this would be one, but at the end of the movie my wife and I looked at each other and laughed..."Is that it?!"

There is no opportunity to get to know the people or to care about them. No attempt is really made to delve deeper into any of the characters than what you could pick up as a passer by. There is simply no storyline at all and the last scene leaves you feeling like the movie is about to start and then it ends.

It's not a comedy, it's not a drama, it's just nothing. Spend your money elsewhere.