Film Review

This film has been getting so much positive press that I went to see it in spite of my reservations. I should have listened to my gut. I just don't get why films like this get so much attention.

After a slew of films that failed to ignite much box office heat, Jennifer Aniston strikes out again with this one. It is not entirely her fault, she is not helped by a good script or story, but she simply cannot be the emotional centre of a film, because she betrays no emotional arc, ever. In this film she plays the only single, and very broke, friend of three other women, each of whom is doing well (friends with money, duh!).

The other women are all great actresses, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack and Kathleen Keener, but none of it matters, there is no real story here. People with money have problems too? Well, we really needed a movie to tell us that did we? Or maybe people are a little wacky and slef-indulgent on LA's upper-middle class and uber-rich westside? Again, who needs to be told that.

I have a theory about films. Major studio movies have happy endings, independent films just end--neither option is usually very satisfying. When this one was over there was a palpable sense of frustration in the theatre--"it can't be over can it?" Yeah it can, and none too soon.