As the only critic in America who didn't like "Little Miss Sunshine," I'm afraid to say I also strongly disliked another recent critical darling, "Friends With Money."
The film stars Jennifer Aniston as a maid, who finds herself continually jealous of her three much-richer friends, who include the impossibly whiny Joan Cusack and Catherine Keener, and Frances McDormand as the most shabbily dressed "fashion designer" I've ever seen. It should go without saying, of course, that all of the male characters in the movie are either feckless, despicable, or both.
"Friends With Money" is the latest in the revival of what used to be called "social problem films," in which a fiction film makes itself about a certain problem, and everything in it in subservient to discussion of that problem. "Crash" is a recent example, as is director Nicole Holofcener's film before this one, the body-image-themed "Lovely and Amazing." I don't like films like this because they go way too far towards spelling out absolutely everything, and eliminating any signs of subtlety whatsoever.
Ironic that Jennifer Aniston would make a movie called "Friends With Money," when she probably got about 1/50th the paycheck to make it than she did per episode of "Friends." It should've been called "Friends Without Money."
And speaking of "Little Miss Sunshine," did anyone else notice that the creepy beauty pageant host at the end was an absolute dead ringer for Rick Santorum? That had to have been intentional.
Posted by Stephen Silver at September 11, 2006 02:48 PMThis is news to me. I don't know many people who watched or let alone loved this movie???
Posted by: at September 12, 2006 11:45 AM