Have you seen “Friends with money”….or even heard of the movie?
Well, its just one of those things – movies in the drama/ comedy/ romance category don’t do very well in the Malaysian scene unless of course its slapstick braindead comedy action movies starring people like Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan. But this one caught my attention.
I watched “Friends with money”on Astro. It was on at 7am the 23rd of Nov & 12midnight, the 24th of Nov. Jennifer Aniston and Joan Cusack, two of the more familiar names to us are amongst its female cast. The movie first debuted in the US on April 7th, 2006. I don’t recall it making the M’sian movie circuit. If it did, it probably didn’t do very well in the M’sian Box Office.
But, the film bagged two minor film awards i.e. Best Supporting Actress (Frances Mc Dormand – 1st from the left in the pic) at the Independent Spirit Awards and the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award (Nicole Holofcener) at the Women in Film Crystal Awards. Yup….you got it right…. never heard of these Awards but nonetheless the film won them.
But you know, despite the invisibility of the film …… I watched it and it struck a nerve.
The storyline involves 4 women friends - 3 married and 1 single and how each one deals with their very different circumstances in life. The show is about life…real-life. It explores how unbalanced we feel when we’re out of our comfort zones, how people and society measure success through accumulation of wealth……..
The movie is anchored by the character Olivia (played by Jen Aniston), who is single and works as a house cleaner….And she has 3 other friends who are well off.
The jibes at how people from different status levels (measured by the bank account, of course) view similar issues, is particularly funny. For instance, Olivia who represents the voice of the ’poor’ wonders why people just can’t donate money directly to the orphanage or disease centre of choice. Whereas Franny, the rich one - played by Joan Cusack – says its just not done that way! The way to do it is to attend an expensive, highly publicised charity dinner/gala and then you donate to the foundation and then only does the money goes to the charity. So there you go, life seems simpler when you’re poor, no? But then again, if you don’t have a charity gala, how’re you gonna show off to society how rich & successful you are, eh?
It’s also about how friendship & relationships are either maintained or lost through the ravages of time when “life interferes”.
These issues are woven into a comedy of sorts but yeah….. like I said, it strikes a nerve. Who knows, you might even be able to identify one or two of your acquaintances or friends in the characters of the movie. Ladies should enjoy this movie. Not too sure if the men will though…..coz it does depict the gay sort to be the more sensitive lot as opposed to the normal macho guy 
.
Happy viewing, if you do watch it!
p.s. Oh, btw, did I mention that the acting by the whole ensemble cast was good…?!
