Friends with Money

A shrewdly observed but slight ensemble comedy, writer-director Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money centers on the relationships of four Los Angeles women who are friends. Joan Cusack plays a wealthy, even-tempered if slightly kooky housewife who dotes on her rather bland husband; Frances McDormand is a successful but volatile and oddly dissatisfied fashion designer married to a remarkably solicitous spouse whom many believe is gay; and Catherine Keener is a screenwriter whose relationship with her collaborator-husband is growing increasingly strained. Jennifer Aniston is the odd woman out here, a needy single gal who has a habit of choosing the wrong men, and the other three worry over her (and themselves and one another, too) as they work through their various personal problems. Though Holofcener's writing is bright and many of the individual sequences are engaging and sometimes touching, as a whole the film never achieves any real depth. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Nicole Holofcener and producer Anthony Bregman, a 12-minute “behind-the-scenes” featurette, a five-minute Sundance Film Festival featurette, a four-minute segment from the Los Angeles premiere, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)