The chick-flick formula is a very standard one: Girl chases guy (usually portrayed by Mark Ruffalo), girl gets guy, girl subsequently loses guy and through the help of sarcastic, slightly less attractive friend, girl wins guy back. But not every girl lives in a romantic comedy. Thankfully, writer-director Nicole Holofcencer realistically examines the lives of women. Her latest film, “Friends With Money,” like her previous works, is a mature dramedy about a group of girlfriends.
Unlike the female characters replaying on the Lifetime network, the women of “Friends with Money,” although insecure, don’t sit around pining for Prince Charming or throwing up dinner. They shop, they talk, they work, they talk, they raise children and then they talk some more. But that’s the beauty of Holofcencer’s work. The conflicts don’t deal with life or death issues, but the highly relatable themes in her films are just as engrossing.
Her style has not changed much since her 1996 directorial debut, “Walking and Talking.” “Talking” dealt with the travails of two friends played by Anne Heche and Catherine Keener (Holofcencer’s muse). Keener also starred in the follow-up, 2001’s “Lovely and Amazing” — a gem about three insecure sisters. It was her second film’s acclaim that undoubtedly attracted the A-list stars to her latest project.
“Friends With Money,” which stars Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Francis McDormand and Keener, focuses on a group of yuppie friends living in Los Angeles, and how each handles life’s little ups and downs. The film never loses pace with the intertwining stories of each character: Christine (Keener) is a screenwriter who’s in the throes of a crumbling marriage; Frannie (Cusack) is a wealthy but dull housewife; Jane (McDormand) is a short-tempered clothing designer in the midst of a mid-life crisis and Olivia (Aniston) is a lonely pothead floundering in her career as a maid. Each actress brings their own accessibility to the flawed, down-to-earth characters.
Then there are the men — the love interests in “Friends” complete the ensemble cast of character actors. Scott Caan plays Olivia’s asshole boyfriend and Jason Isaacs plays Christine’s insensitive husband. But not to worry, not all men are jerks in this female fest: Simon McBurney (the creepy doc from the “Manchurian Candidate”) does a complete 180 as Jane’s sweet but ambiguously gay husband.
Money, given the title of the movie, is obviously a running theme. Olivia’s friends with more money take pity on her because of her financial situation and single status. But the preoccupation with wealth is the mistake with “Friends.” The best thing about the film is its naturalistic tone, but the characters’ elite professions disconnect an otherwise relatable story. In Holofcencer’s world everyone seems either a glamorous yuppie or a dowdy maid. Even in Los Angeles there are people struggling in between. And although the film is shot on location (not L. A.’s perennial stand-in, Vancouver) the overly polished set design looks like it was ripped right out of the pages of an Ethan Allen catalog.
Then again, “Friends” isn’t exactly a feel-good movie. Realistic means bittersweet — Holofcencer isn’t afraid to imply that divorce can be a good thing. But thankfully, the film doesn’t focus too much on romance. This is a movie about the kind of friendship among females that is not seen enough on the big screen. There are plenty of scenes in “Friends With Money” that any gal (or open-minded male) could connect to. Just don’t call it a chick flick.