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"Friends With Money" resembles " Crash ," except that all the characters are white, and the reason they keep running into each other is because the women have been friends since the dawn of time. Three of them are rich and married. The fourth is, and I quote, "single, a pothead and a maid." That's Olivia ( Jennifer Aniston ), who used to teach at a fancy school in Santa Monica, "but quit when the kids started giving her quarters."

The other friends are Jane ( Frances McDormand ), who screams at people who try to cut in line ahead of her; Christine ( Catherine Keener ), who writes screenplays with her husband, and Franny ( Joan Cusack ), whose biggest concern is that her husband spends too much money on their child's shoes. Jane's husband is Aaron ( Simon McBurney ). "He's so gay," says Olivia. Christine's husband is David ( Jason Isaacs ). They fight over what the characters should say in the screenplay they're writing, and then they simply fight: She tells him his breath stinks, and he tells her she's getting a lard butt. Not a demonstration of mutual support. Franny's husband is Matt ( Greg Germann ), whose problem, as far as this film is concerned, is that he has no problems.

The characters meet in various combinations and gossip about those not present, and all three couples spend a lot of time on the topic of Olivia, who they agree needs a husband, although their own marriages don't argue persuasively for wedded bliss. Olivia finally gets fixed up with a physical trainer named Mike ( Scott Caan ), who in some ways is the most intriguing character in the movie, and certainly the biggest louse. Consider how he asks to go along with her when she cleans houses, and what he asks her afterward, and the present he gives her, and the "friend from junior high school" he sees in a restaurant.

Meanwhile, the marriage of Jane and Aaron is melting down because of her anger. She's a famous dress designer who has decided not to wash her hair, which becomes so greasy her husband turns away from her in bed, although maybe he really is gay. Or probably not, and neither is his new friend, also named Aaron, although they do enjoy trying on sweaters together. Meanwhile, Christine and David are putting a second story on their house, which will give them a view, and we all know that if you're fighting, the best thing to do is remodel.

"Friends With Money" was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener , whose two previous features were wonderful studies of women and their relationships: "Walking and Talking" (1996) and " Lovely and Amazing " (2001). Both of them also starred Catherine Keener, who is expert at creating the kind of Holofcener character who speaks the truth with wit, especially when it is not required. Cusack can do that, too, although she is underused here.

The movie lacks the warmth and edge of the two previous features. It seems to be more of an idea than a story. Yes, it's about how Olivia's friends all have money, and at one point Jane suggests they simply give her some to bring her up to their level. As it happens, characters do exactly that in novels I've read recently by Stendhal and Trollope, but in modern Los Angeles, it is unheard of. If you have millions and your friend is a maid, obviously what you do is tell her how much you envy her. Working for a living is a charming concept when kept at a reasonable distance.

The parts of the movie that really live are the ones involving Olivia and the two men in her life. First, Mike, the fitness instructor, and then Marty ( Bob Stephenson ), a slob who lives alone, is very shy, and hires her to clean his house. When the rich friends go to a $1,000-a-plate benefit, they invite Olivia along, and she brings Marty, and when she goes to pick him up, she suggests that maybe he should think about wearing a tie. This he is happy to do. At the dinner, he smooths down the tie with pride and satisfaction. Watch the way Aniston regards him while he does this. She is so happy for him. At last she is the friend with money. Not cash money, it's true, but a good line of credit in the bank of love.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Friends With Money (2006)

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief drug use

Jennifer Aniston as Olivia

Joan Cusack as Franny

Catherine Keener as Christine

Frances McDormand as Jane

Simon McBurney as Aaron

Jason Isaacs as David

Greg Germann as Matt

Scott Caan as Mike

Bob Stephenson as Marty

Directed and written by

• Nicole Holofcener

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FILM REVIEW

Three Cocooned Haves, One Aimless Have-Not in 'Friends With Money'

By Manohla Dargis

• April 7, 2006

IN the final scene of Nicole Holofcener's "Friends With Money," a bittersweet comedy about the drama of being alive -- with and without a fistful of dollars -- the actress Jennifer Aniston summons up a small smile that looks a lot like a frown. It would be a stretch to say that at that moment her character, a vaguely depressed pot-smoking housekeeper named Olivia, is actually happy, but neither is she exactly unhappy. It's just that she, much as the rumpled man tucked into bed next to her says about himself, has "some issues, you know problems."

Most of Olivia's problems involve money, though she also has serious man troubles (she doesn't have one) and career woes (ditto). What she does have are three older married friends -- played by Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack -- who live in degrees of cocooned comfort in the kinds of Los Angeles neighborhoods where the only people of color are either taking care of the children or white folks working on their Malibu tans. Unlike her friends, Olivia seems to expect little from life and never seems surprised when that's what she gets. Having left her high school teaching job (the brats tossed her quarters for food), she now cleans up after other people, restoring to their lives a sense of order lacking in her own.

As might be expected, "Friends With Money" is about friendship and money and about how having one sometimes, maybe always, interferes with the other. Materialism and its discontents is a favorite American worry, but with its melancholic low-frequency buzz and roster of navel-gazers, this film feels particularly contemporary. Ms. Holofcener never suggests that her characters need to get out of the house and start ladling chowder down at the local soup kitchen; even the cars in this film don't wear peace signs. But she obviously wants to say something about people who have too much of everything for their own good. (And clearly knocking about the movie business for years, as well as Los Angeles, has given her plenty of material.)

Maybe it's the sprawl, but like many Los Angeles-based stories, including Ms. Holofcener's last film, "Lovely and Amazing," this one radiates in many different directions at once. In addition to Olivia, there's Jane, a splenetic clothing designer (a sensational Ms. McDormand), and Christine, one half of an unhappily married screenwriting team (Ms. Keener). Both women appear to be struggling through what Gail Sheehy called the "forlorn 40's," while the third married friend, Franny (Ms. Cusack), a stay-at-home mom with full-time help, has apparently skipped that passage and gone straight to heaven with a fat bank account, a vigorous sex life with her own husband (Greg Germann) and two kids who seem like pleasant afterthoughts. Rarely has Ms. Cusack's googly-eyed, otherworldly vibe seemed so right for a role.

One of those films in which the narrative emerges from the characters and through the performances, "Friends With Money" unfolds as a succession of vignettes organized around meals, shopping trips and lonely nights, and is punctuated by some laugh-out-loud bursts and a few punches to the gut. Ms. Holofcener is a first-rate portraitist and something of a miniaturist, and she likes to use a single telling detail, a bad habit, say, or a fixation -- like Olivia's fondness for costly lotions or Jane's sudden refusal to wash her hair -- to get at the larger meaning. If on occasion, as with Christine's ritualized clumsiness, this tactic slips into contrivance (for someone in pain, she whimpers "ow" a little too often), most of what's here nonetheless feels startlingly honest.

At times repellently so: Ms. Holofcener's willingness to show women at their most unpleasantly needy -- like the serial loner in her first feature, "Walking and Talking," who waits for the phone that doesn't ring -- can seem almost sadistic, as well as precariously familiar, the stuff of chick-lit clichés. But it's this very nakedness that gives her work bite. There's something unsettling about her films, all of which involve women who are, one way or another, flapping around inside cages largely of their own making. The image of Jane eating her guts out with fury, despite her loving family and fabulously cool career, just doesn't jibe with the standard glossy-magazine cant about wanting, having and keeping it all until death (or divorce) do us part.

Too bad Ms. Holofcener never really taps into Jane's rage. Although she gives the character a late-act speech about the sorrows of aging, this wan explanation never takes hold, partly because the character seems too angry (and the actress looks too good) to be worried about another birthday. Unlike Jane, Ms. Holofcener isn't one to blow her stack. Out of caution or courtesy, she instead offers gentle hints that all may not be right with this world, as when she lets the camera linger on the photo of a monkey, its fingers plugged in its ears, shortly after Franny and her husband walk past it with their arms laden with Christmas gifts. When you're as rich as Franny it's easy to hear no evil -- no sadness or sorrow.

"Friends With Money" is greatly appealing if not especially adventurous, either for its director or for her admirers. Ms. Holofcener writes wonderful, recognizably real women characters, but the narrowness of their worlds and the continued modesty of her canvases suggest that, much like Olivia, she would prefer to stick her head under the covers than out the door. It's understandable that the filmmaker would be ambivalent about the choices women face, but it would be nice if she herself expanded on those choices a bit, or at least wrote a character that occasionally checked out Arianna Huffington's blog. After all, while Olivia and the rest have been drifting and freaking out, Ms. Holofcener has directed three very good features that, in themselves, prove there's more to the modern woman's life than her neuroses.

"Friends With Money" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). A little sex, a little dope.

Friends With Money Opens today nationwide.

Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener; director of photography, Terry Stacey; edited by Robert Frazen; music by Craig Richey and Rickie Lee Jones; production designer, Amy B. Ancona; produced by Anthony Bregman; released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: 90 minutes.

WITH: Catherine Keener (Christine), Jennifer Aniston (Olivia), Frances McDormand (Jane), Joan Cusack (Franny), Simon McBurney (Aaron), Jason Isaacs (David), Scott Caan (Mike) and Greg Germann (Matt).

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Friends With Money Reviews

The film is constructed out of the notion that these small moments constitute life. ... But it is not a terribly interesting life, and it seems rather myopic of Holofcener to imagine that we will be fascinated by it.

Full Review | Feb 14, 2021

Friends With Money isn't an action film, it has no real surprises, and generally has a very subtle plot. But what it does has is heart.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Sep 12, 2017

Nicole Holofcener is a humanist. When people say, "It's a movie about real life," they're talking about movies like hers.

Full Review | Jul 11, 2016

Boasting generous performances from each player, this is a film that understands the foibles of human nature.

Full Review | Mar 12, 2010

Tidily grounded in Sitcomland

Full Review | Aug 30, 2009

Holofcener jibes class and materialism without getting preachy and avoids formula with wit and compassion.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 23, 2009

The script is full of witty gems, while still remaining rooted in reality.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 13, 2008

Holofcener's anecdotal narrative doesn't give us much purchase on any of the characters.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Feb 13, 2008

An astutely observed relationship dramedy, painfully funny even as it burns.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2008

This delicious, seriocomic tale of four friends in affluent, liberal, west L.A. grappling with midlife crises, metrosexual spouses and household remodeling takes on an avoided subject: money, and how it affects our relationships.

Full Review | Nov 1, 2007

...remains oddly uninvolving for the majority of its brisk running time.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 4, 2007

For all its Sundance cool factor, the latest from this gifted director glances off the viewer without leaving much impact.

Full Review | Mar 1, 2007

Una comedia agridulce sobre las relaciones de pareja y amistad de cuatro mujeres acomodadas, con buenos dilogos y observacin de personajes. Muy buen elenco.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 9, 2007

Problematic at the center, but there's still pleasure to be had in watching the actresses navigate the emotional terrain.

Full Review | Oct 20, 2006

This is a dense and sophisticated work about mortality, materialism, madness, jealousy and pity a movie in which the fabulous duds are ripped off the "Sex and the City" gals and they're left teetering on the edge of the abyss...

Full Review | Oct 7, 2006

These characters are worth a visit, but don't be surprised if they don't stay with you for very long once you've gone home.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 22, 2006

Just when did the polished Hollywood 'chick flick' of old begin to appropriate the stylistics of the indie film?

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 2, 2006

In a low-key way, it's a very fine performance. Poker-faced Aniston may be, but everything Olivia needs to say is right there in her eyes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 1, 2006

As slice-of-life indie dramedies go, Friends with Money is smart and engaging, if not wholly satisfying.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 31, 2006

Marriage, success, self-worth and communication are put under the microscope and the result is funny, poignant and ripe with truths

Full Review | Aug 25, 2006

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Friends With Money

Time Out says

Release details.

• Release date: Friday 26 May 2006
• Duration: 88 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Nicole Holofcener
• Screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener
• Jennifer Aniston
• Frances McDormand
• Joan Cusack
• Catherine Keener
• Greg Germann
• Simon McBurney
• Jason Isaacs

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Friends With Money Review

26 May 2006

Friends With Money

Nicole Holofcener’s third pleasing — if sketchy — foray among women’s relationships (after Lovely & Amazing and Walking And Talking) benefits from the men in their lives. Keener, as the patented dissatisfied bitch she plays so well, is bored and irked with husband Jason Isaacs, which alienates her from a multitude who’d shut up and thank their lucky stars.

McDormand’s pre-menopausal anger mismanagement and hygiene issues are a highlight, as are her effeminate husband’s (Simon McBurney) unwitting gay encounters, making them the most entertaining duo. Cusack’s delightful Franny and her husband (Greg Germann) fly in the face of PC wisdom because they are the richest but also the nicest, happiest people, with nothing to gripe about. Meanwhile Aniston’s unsettled, younger Olivia takes work as a cleaner and takes up (inexplicably) with a hilariously appalling physical trainer (Scott Caan).

Taken as it comes this is very amusingly observed, playing like a string of fairly sharp, funny improv skits. It doesn’t hold together if you start thinking about it, though, because so many of the characters are annoying and their raisons d’être both unplumbed and unresolved. How and when did poor Olivia become part of this set anyway? And what IS she doing with that boor?

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• DVD & Streaming

Friends With Money

• Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Jennifer Aniston as Olivia; Joan Cusack as Franny; Catherine Keener as Christine; Frances McDormand as Jane; Simon McBurney as Aaron; Jason Isaacs as David; Greg Germann as Matt; Scott Caan as Mike; Bob Stephenson as Marty

Home Release Date

• Nicole Holofcener

Distributor

• Sony Pictures Classics

Movie Review

Olivia’s world is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, she barely scrapes by in her depressing job as a maid. Lonely and desperate, there’s little in her life that brings hope or joy. On the other, Olivia’s three closest friends—Franny, Christine and Jane—inhabit an altogether different milieu: the world of privilege that comes from having money, and lots of it. From Olivia’s perspective, it seems as if their wealth would be the answer to all of her problems. After all, her friends have husbands and children, and, it would seem, happiness.

Beneath the surface, however, disappointment, disillusionment and desperation lurk in the lives of Olivia’s rich friends. Christine and her husband, David, have enjoyed a fruitful partnership as successful screenwriters. But David’s love for his wife has cooled, and she doesn’t know how to cope with his growing indifference. Nor has Jane’s fame as a celebrated fashion designer been enough to stave off depression and bitterness (and her husband, Aaron, is perhaps flirting with homosexuality). Only Franny and Matt enjoy a modicum of happiness, even though they still argue over how to spend Franny’s inherited fortune.

Each of the moneyed women attempt, in their own well-meaning-yet-condescending ways, to help their poor friend, Olivia. Franny is the most proactive. But her “charity” proves dubious when the man she sets Olivia up with, her personal trainer, begins treating Olivia as a sex object. As she nears the end of her emotional rope, Olivia’s chance phone call to a single, unemployed client named Marty yields an unexpected opportunity for friendship and love in her otherwise hope-challenged life.

Positive Elements

The characters in Friends With Money are, for the most part, shallow and self-absorbed. They often treat one another badly and are usually unable to take responsibility for their words and deeds. They are, as goes that old cliché, “swimming in denial.” In contrast to such behavior, the film concludes with Marty apologizing to Olivia for hurting her feelings. Both Marty and Olivia then admit to one another that they’ve got “issues.” It’s one of the few moments in the film where any of the characters confess that they’ve got problems and take responsibility for how their actions affect others.

Another “moment” comes when Jane delivers an insightful lesson about right and wrong to her young son, Wyatt. She tells him that people sometimes make bad decisions before they even realize what they’re doing, then rationalize them. But Jane insists that our excuses don’t make wrong choices OK, saying, “When people do wrong things, it makes the world an uglier place. There is right and wrong.”

Jane is deeply depressed, but she is beginning to realize that money and success won’t provide the fulfillment she’d hoped for when she was younger. She tells her husband, “There’s no more wondering what my fabulous life is going to be like.” Clearly, affluence is not the answer to her emptiness.

For the most part, Matt and Aaron treat their wives with respect and affection. Likewise, Marty is kind and honest with Olivia. The three wealthy couples participate in a $1,000-dollar-a-plate fundraiser for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). They pay for Olivia and Marty to attend as well.

Sexual Content

When Franny and Mike talk about him getting together with Olivia, he tells Franny that he’s having sex with another client and asks a crude question about Olivia’s body. Franny nonchalantly tells Mike that Olivia will have sex with him—an assessment that’s correct. Shortly after meeting, Mike and Olivia kiss. Later, it’s implied that they have had sex (Olivia tells Franny that Mike won’t look at her during intercourse).

Mike buys Olivia a revealing maid costume for her birthday (we see a lot of leg and cleavage) and watches her clean in it; afterward, the pair is shown having sex in a client’s bed. There’s no nudity, but it’s an explicit scene with motions and sounds. Near the end of the film, Olivia is shown in Marty’s bed with bare shoulders and a sheet covering her torso, implying that they’ve had sex as well.

Olivia finds a battery-powered sex toy in a dresser drawer of one of her clients; we hear its buzz offscreen as she begins to use it. Later, Mike finds the device in the drawer and comments on it.

Throughout the film, each of the couples speculates about the others’ sex lives. Franny and Christine believe that Jane’s husband, Aaron, is a homosexual. To lend support to their suspicions, Aaron is shown constantly being hit on by men who are clearly gay. In a clothing store, one of these men convinces Aaron to try on a shirt (despite the store’s strange lack of dressing rooms). Aaron takes off his shirt to the appreciative glances of the other man. Finally, Aaron strikes up a friendship (that has clear homosexual undertones) with another man.

Franny and Matt are concerned that their son doesn’t “play with balls” like other boys his age. Matt hopes that his son isn’t gay because he doesn’t want his boy to have “extra gay pain.”

Violent Content

After two people cut in front of her in a store line, Jane gets angry, gets kicked out of the store by the manager and storms off—straight into a plate glass window she didn’t see. Her nose breaks and she wears a blood-stained bandage for the remainder of the movie. Christine burns her hand on a hot stove.

Crude or Profane Language

Characters use the f-word (sometimes with sexual connotations) 20-plus times and the s-word about 15 times. Jesus’ or God’s name is taken in vain in at least 25 instances. Rough anatomical slang for the male anatomy is used twice. About 10 other milder profanities (“a–” and “h—“) pepper the script as well.

Drug and Alcohol Content

One of Olivia’s friends describes her as a “pothead.” After that reference, we see her smoking pot three times (in bed, in her car, and once with Marty, to whom she offers her joint). Mike finds a huge bag of marijuana in the refrigerator of one of Olivia’s clients, as well as bottles of tequila and vodka. Several scenes depict characters drinking wine or beer socially. Jane and Christine comment derogatorily on Matt’s smoking habit, though we never actually witness him lighting up.

Other Negative Elements

Olivia steals expensive cosmetic face cream from the house of one of her clients; she lies about going through other people’s drawers when asked about it. She also stalks a married man with whom she had a two-month affair. She calls him repeatedly and hangs up when he answers; she even parks outside his house so she can see him when he picks up her phone call.

Jane has a severe anger problem, often yelling profanities at people who try to take advantage of her. Though she never acts violently, her demeanor is such that you expect her to perhaps assault those who anger her.

Christine and David’s nanny apparently has as much responsibility for raising their son as the couple themselves do. David seems increasingly resentful of what Christine needs from him emotionally, and he often treats her coldly. Tension in their marriage eventually leads to a divorce.

As many movies before it have done, Friends With Money offers a take on a time-honored cinematic theme: Money can’t buy happiness, and it won’t solve your problems. Olivia’s life is a pitiful one, to be sure. But her friends’ affluence is no panacea for their personal problems. In the end, Olivia isn’t much different from her rich friends. She simply possesses fewer resources with which to medicate her soul’s pain. Thus, the overall message of the film is a positive one.

Along the way, however, the filmmakers’ depiction of these characters’ desperation is, well, depressing . Some solace is found in mostly dysfunctional relationships. But even the best interactions between these four women (and their husbands) are tainted with gossip, envy and lack of heartfelt empathy. Only in the last few minutes of this hour-and-a-half sob story does Olivia find someone who offers unconditional acceptance, someone with the humility to admit that he doesn’t have it all figured out.

Unfortunately, viewers have to sit through 86 minutes of R-rated language, drug use and sexual content to get to this modest narrative payoff. Though many moviegoers, myself included, love to see characters like Olivia take baby steps toward personal redemption, I wish we all didn’t have to be so submerged in the evidence of their angst—and their poor choices—in the process.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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SXSW: "Friends with Money" Review

" Friends With Money " is a sharp dramedy about a group of four women; three affluent, and one in the midst of a tumultuous period in her life.

The film, directed and written by Nicole Holofcener , is remarkable in the way that it sees each of its characters, sharply played by Jennifer Aniston , Frances McDormand , Joan Cusack and Catherine Keener , so clearly and so fully; even in when the characters do something to earn our disapproval, they’re still self-questioning enough to earn our empathy.

The four friends are grappling with quite a lot, from the twists and turns of their relationships to the fact that they’re getting older. Olivia (Aniston) is working as a maid after abandoning her teaching career, and she feels out of place next to her much more affluent friends. Christine (Keener) and her husband are screenwriting partners, but she suspects he doesn’t care for others’ feelings at all. Jane (McDormand), is easily upset at slight injustices, from bad wait service to others’ driving etiquette, masking a desperation that her life has plateaued ("I guess there’s no more wondering what it’ll be like," she says). And Franny (Cusack) is alternately assured and insecure in her affluent lifestyle.

"Friends with Money" offers no easy resolutions, and at the end, things remain as unsettled as when they started. Much of the laughs are dry, some bitter, but they seem drawn from real life, not cinematic convention. This a rare film about social status in which the bourgeoisie is seen in three dimensions, with discreet charm.

Much of Jennifer Aniston’s appeal as a movie actress comes from the fact that she seems down for whatever; she has a weary, laconic affect. And Keener does what she does best, playing a character that is cynical and vulnerable in equal measure. None of the performances ring false; this is an ensemble piece of a high order.

With six reviews, " Friends with Money " currently stands at 83 percent on the Tomatometer.

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"We waste our money so you don't have to."

"We waste our money, so you don't have to."

Movie Review

Friends with money.

US Release Date: 04-07-2006

Directed by: Nicole Holofcener

Starring ▸ ▾

• Jennifer Aniston ,  as
• Catherine Keener ,  as
• Frances McDormand ,  as
• Joan Cusack ,  as
• Jason Isaacs ,  as
• Scott Caan ,  as
• Greg Germann ,  as
• Simon McBurney as

Jennifer Aniston in Friends with Money .

I remember an old Saturday Night Live sketch where a group of young guys discover a genie who can grant their wishes. One of them wishes to see two real live lesbians making out. What appears are two rather masculine looking women who kiss in a way that has nothing to do with the typical fantasy of what girl on girl action should be. Well, Friends with Money is to chick flicks what those lesbians are to young men's fantasies of lesbians. Your average chick flick features high melo-drama, lots of tears and quite probably includes a woman (preferably a young mother) dying of some unnamed disease. Friends with Money features none of those things.

The movie, I can't say plot because there isn't one, centers on four female friends, three of whom have different levels of wealth, while Olivia (Aniston) is forced to work as a maid after quitting her job as a teacher at an elite prep school. All of them but Olivia is married with children. They spend most of the movie talking about themselves and each other.

One question that Franny (Cusack) asks at one point is, "I wonder if we all met now whether we'd become friends?" The answer is emphatically, "No". This is a group of fairly self-obsessed women with decreasingly less in common who are obviously only in contact because of their youthful friendship. They are constantly evaluating their friends and almost always finding something about them or their relationship to criticize.

Olivia's problems are that she's single, not making much money and is obsessed with a married man whom she once had an affair with. Jane (McDormand) is depressed and married to a sexually ambiguous British man that has at least one of her friends convinced that he is gay. Christine (Keener), is in an unhappy marriage with her co-writer husband. The big conflict in their life is the construction of a second story on their home that annoys the neighbors. And lastly, the happiest of the bunch -- and coincidently(?) the richest of the four -- is Franny (Cusack), whom the others constantly question whether she's really as happy as she seems and criticize her husband for smoking.

While events do occur over the course of the story (one of the marriages breaks up, Olivia meets someone), that clearly isn't the point of the movie. At the end of it, while some of the characters seem happier and some sadder, the resolutions are at best precarious and could be wiped away in a matter of days.

Fortunately, since this movie focuses so strongly on characters rather than plot, all four of the leads do a great job. They each define very distinct characters and keep you at least some what interested over the course of the movie.

In some ways this movie reminded me of an off-broadway play; lots of talking and character development, but very little action. With plays or movies like that you really need to relate to the characters to truly enjoy them. And in the case of Friends of with Money , I could not.

Olivia does all the cleaning, but pays Mike after they have sex?

I could relate partially to these characters. They talk constantly about each other, just as we all do in real life. Yeah we all do, even you, the one reading this who thinks they don't. We talk about people who create an emotional reaction in us. Friends do that.

The unique thing about this chick flick, is that it does not blame all of the women's problems on men. Olivia created her own situation. She had an affair with a married man, and slept with a trainer on a blind date, even though he clearly has no real feelings for her. She quit her nice job to become a maid. Christine is trying to keep up with her richer friends. She is the most snooty when it comes to money. Her neediness is at fault for her marriage ending. It takes her neighbor's window to show her how others see her.

Of all the spouses, only Aaron gets a side plot. He comes across as sexually ambiguous, and is constantly being flirted with by apparently gay men. He even makes friends with a married man who likewise comes across as gay. This movie never resolves his sexual identity, so why give him his own storyline?

This film reminded me of Alan Alda's The Four Seasons , in which a group of friends get together, and then talk about each other later. It has a clear story arc, as they all learn to accept changes within their tight circle. Friends With Money has none to speak of. As Scott wrote, what resolutions there are, seems anything but solid.

Photos © Copyright Sony Pictures Classics (2006)

© 2000 - 2017 Three Movie Buffs. All Rights Reserved.

Search Reeling Reviews

Friends with money.

Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) floats through the lives of her three best friends, avoiding money issues and accepting the generous largess of her pals. But, as her life takes a satisfying turn, the lives of her buddies start to unravel in “Friends with Money.”

Laura's Review: DNS

Robin's review: b-.

We’ve been here before with this ensemble story of four lifelong friends – Olivia (Aniston), Jane (Frances McDormand), Christine (Catherine Keener) and Franny (Joan Cusack) – now from different walks of life. Olivia has the humble job of maid-for-hire, content to clean others’ homes, smoke pot and obsess over a failed affair. And, she’s not married. Franny is fabulously wealthy. Christine is a successful screenwriter with husband David (Jason Isaacs). Jane does quite well financially as an haute couture designer. The cliché-ridden script by Nicole Holofcener travels no new territory as the well-off friends make it there job to help Olivia find happiness. But, they should look toward themselves as their lives aren’t so hot, either (except for, maybe, Franny – who is so rich that, maybe, money can find happiness). Their attempts to secure O a mate fails miserably when they fix her up with Fran’s personal trainer, Mike (Scott Caan), who, after a blind date, accompanies Olivia on her cleaning jobs. He takes advantage of her by demanding a cut of her pay – for his “help.” Easily intimidated Olivia readily gives in to his unreasonable claim, showing a timidity that she, we hope, must and will overcome. Things roll along as expected as the well-to-do friends show the cracks in their relational facades: Christine and David having life-altering marital problems; Jane has issues with washing her hair (she doesn’t) and everyone speculates about the sexual preference of her husband, Aaron (Simon McBurney); and, Fran has guilt issues over her fabulous wealth. All the while, Olivia struggles to find her own life and someone to share it with. It’s pretty easy to guess who is going to have the happily-ever-after ending. The surprise is in her perfect mate. The good thing about “Friends with Money” is its cast. Aniston, with scruffy hair and no makeup, looks unglamorous and does a credible job as a woman who eschewed her previous life (she was a teacher at a prestigious private school but left when the students ragged on her blue collar background) and took the slacker way out. The best friends are well played by Keener, McDormand and Cusack, with Joan giving a light comedic turn to her Franny. The male spouse supporting players are well cast with Isaacs, McBurney and Greg Germann giving some depth to their characters. Techs are solid. Despite the clichéd script, “Friends with Money” is entertaining, well acted and, thankfully, short (just 88 minutes). It will attract a femme audience where it should do well enough with its friends-always sentiment both at the theater and home vid.

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Friends With Money

A n exasperatingly awful performance from Jennifer Aniston puts the tin lid on this humourless and self-pitying ensemble comedy, which has a cop-out ending of such spectacular and fundamental dishonesty that I felt like flinging my nachos at the screen. It comes from writer-director Nicole Holofcener, who was responsible for Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing, and has gained a reputation for writing witty, mature roles for witty, mature women.

Maybe that is what she thinks she's doing, and what her admirers think she is doing. I think Holofcener sits down to create talky, metropolitan comedies with a dark edge, but something different always pours out of her laptop, and from the mouths of the actresses she directs: a strange squeak of complaint, anger and depression, overlaid with prosperous middle-aged smugness and conceit. You've heard of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - these women are the Nah-Nah Sisterhood, perpetually creating a not-that-funny buzz of discontent and inviting us to apply the balm of sympathetic laughter. It's difficult to judge how much of this is deliberate.

Jennifer Aniston, though. Once one of the brightest, funniest stars of the small screen, she is here only slightly more animated than a haddock on a slab. Her face is like a wet weekend. And the rain pours thinly down all the time she is on screen. She plays Olivia, a former teacher at a chi-chi private school, who couldn't take the humiliation of being so much poorer than the obnoxious kids she taught. So she quit and took a job as a maid as a stopgap, got into a bad relationship with a personal trainer (Scott Caan) - and is dismayed to discover that a maid is what she has become and, somewhere along the line, her life has taken a very wrong turning.

Poor Olivia is a source of worry and embarrassment to her circle of female friends, who are all rich - or at least very nicely off - thanks to their own entrepreneurial talents and their marriages to rich men. But they, too, are worried that their lives have taken a wrong turn. They've got cash - but most of their marriages are a disappointment.

Catherine Keener is Christine, who co-writes lucrative screenplays with her husband David (Jason Isaacs), facing each other over matching Macs, querulously bouncing ideas around and having disagreements about dialogue that mask deeper disagreements about their own relationship. Joan Cusack plays Frannie, the richest of the peer group, married to Matt (Greg Germann), and in the habit of buying thousand-dollar plates at charity dinners. The most unhappy is Jane, played by Frances McDormand , an independent fashion designer and mother-of-one married to Aaron (Simon McBurney) a slightly camp bathroom-products entrepreneur who is universally suspected of being gay and in denial about it.

McDormand sets the film's keynote with her obsession with other people's discourtesies. She is irritated beyond measure at slow waiters, at people who cut in queues ahead of her, at drivers who nab her parking spot and mothers who bring their children to her house for playdates with their nannies, but fail to acknowledge her in the street. Her slow-burning, midlife rage at all the little things generates a prickly fog of irritation that settles over the entire movie.

Keener is also a worry. This is a performer who does not have the Midas touch I thought she had: without a decent script she really can flounder, left with nothing but an empty barracuda-grimace. Her character's one distinctive point is bad temper - klutzishly, she keeps bashing her shins on the furniture and is enraged at her husband's failure to ask if she's all right. It is Holofcener's ill fortune to have created Christine and David at the same time as Jonathan Franzen has published Two's Company, his short story about two co-writers of a sitcom, in which there is far more wit and insight about relationship dysfunction surfacing in a writing partnership.

Olivia finally winds up with an unemployed loser - a source of yet more chagrin to these well-heeled women. Can you be happy without money? Can you be friends with people much poorer than you? The issue is dispatched with the aforementioned evasive plot twist of monumental effrontery.

Of course, these people are supposed to have flaws: their personae are artfully speckled with them, like tasteful baubles on a Christmas tree. But it simply isn't possible to care at all about them, swathed as they are in self-congratulation and grumpy anxiety. They are people who need a kick in the pants, and are exceeded in awfulness only by the cast of Denys Arcand's ineffably ghastly and overrated midlife drama The Barbarian Invasions. This is a movie from which genuine humour and insight have been removed like caffeine from coffee. The result is a thin and meagre brew.

• Frances McDormand

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This Is What The Friends Cast Are Worth Today

Posted: May 17, 2024 | Last updated: May 17, 2024

Friends with financial benefits

Can you believe it's been two decades since the final episode of  Friends  hit our screens?

While the curtain has come down on one of the most popular TV shows ever, the beloved sitcom has stood the test of time, and fans old and new still binge-watch it today.

The show also made its six leading stars wildly rich.  Read on to discover how much the cast earned from the series and what they did next to expand their fortunes .

All dollar amounts are in US dollars.

How their paycheques grew over the seasons

Despite going on to earn fortunes from the show, the pay wasn’t initially that phenomenal for the cast. The stars earned a relatively paltry $22,000 per episode during the first season, but they soon realized they could make much more.

Before work could start on the second season, the cast refused to begin filming until it was agreed they would be paid $100,000 each per episode. But even that seems measly compared to the $1 million an episode they would be banking by the time the final season rolled around.

Still bringing in the megabucks

Today, the show still manages to generate a whopping $1 billion a year in syndication revenue for Warner Bros. Although the stars are only entitled to 2% of that income, it does provide a huge annual paycheque of $20 million for each cast member. Not bad for the work you did two decades ago. 

Meanwhile, the original cast saw their fortunes grow by at least $2.5 million thanks to 2021's reunion episode. But who’s made the most money overall since  Friends  bowed out? 

Matt LeBlanc aka Joey Tribbiani: worth $85 million

In the years since the show wrapped for good, Matt LeBlanc has featured mainly on the small screen, appearing in  Friends  spin-off series  Joey , UK comedy  Episodes,  and the sitcom  Man with a Plan .

In 2016, LeBlanc joined the BBC's popular automotive TV series Top Gear . He left the show in 2019 after four seasons, though he returned in 2021 for a special tribute episode to late racing driver Sabine Schmitz.

LeBlanc hasn’t completely shunned the big screen either, appearing in the Charlie’s Angels movies, and the 2014 comedy Lovesick , to name a few.

LeBlanc has amassed an estimated fortune of $85 million.

Much of his wealth can be attributed to his success in Friends, but his various TV roles have also bolstered his earnings.

David Schwimmer aka Ross Geller: worth $120 million

David Schwimmer initially shied away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and aside from appearing as a voice actor in the  Madagascar  films, he largely disappeared from the public gaze. However, he made a successful leap into the world of directing, helming projects such as  Little Britain USA  and  Growing Up Fisher .

In 2016, Schwimmer was back on TV screens as Rob Kardashian in the TV docu-series T he People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story , and in 2018–2019, he starred in five episodes of  Will & Grace .

Most recently, Schwimmer starred in the 2024 dramedy movie  Little Death.

Schwimmer’s diverse career has undoubtedly earned him a sizable fortune.

His net worth is estimated at a cool $120 million.

Matthew Perry aka Chandler Bing: worth $120 million at time of death

Matthew Perry tragically passed away on 28 October 2023, aged 54. He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home.

Despite battling illness and addiction, Matthew Perry worked nonstop after  Friends ended. His roles included films like  The  Ron Clark Story  and  17 Again, while his TV credits included  Scrubs  and  The Good Wife .

Perry also enjoyed a stint on the stage, starring in 2016's The End of Longing  at the Playhouse Theatre in London.

His final performance was in the 2017 historical drama miniseries The Kennedys: Decline and Fall . He also filmed a cameo for the Oscar-nominated satire comedy  Don't Look Up in 2021, but unfortunately for fans, his scenes were cut from the movie.

At the time of his death, Perry was reportedly worth $120 million.

Perry had always spoken candidly about his battles with addiction. His loved ones have now set up a charity in his name to help others facing the same issues called The Matthew Perry Foundation.

The charity's website features a quote from Perry himself, who once said: "When I die, I don't want Friends  to be the first thing that's mentioned – I want helping others to be the first thing that's mentioned. And I'm going to live the rest of my life proving that. Addiction is far too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. But together, one day at a time, we can beat it down."

Lisa Kudrow aka Phoebe Buffay: worth $130 million

The singer of the iconic song  Smelly Cat  song went on to appear in films such as  Easy A  and  The Girl on the Train , as well as TV shows including  Scandal  and  BoJack Horseman.

Kudrow has also created her own shows, with projects like  Web Therapy  and  The Comeback  under her belt. 

Her most recent projects include playing Heidi in the Disney+ original musical Better Nate Than Ever,  and voice roles in the animated TV shows Rick and Morty and Housebroken .

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Her  Friends  fortune, along with her other work, has certainly lined her pockets.

It's estimated that Kudrow has a very healthy fortune of around $130 million today.

Courteney Cox aka Monica Geller: worth $150 million

Courteney Cox has been very busy since filming wrapped on  Friends . She's appeared in a long list of movies, including a leading role in the ongoing  Scream  franchise.

Meanwhile, her TV credits include a starring role in  Cougar Town  from 2009 until 2015 and appearances in  Shameless  and  Modern Family.

In between acting roles, she’s built up her bank account via endorsements with the likes of Pantene, Coca-Cola, and Avon. She's also profited from Coquette Productions, the production company she set up with her ex-husband, David Arquette.

With multiple sources of income, it's no surprise Cox is the second richest  Friends  alum. 

Today, she boasts an estimated fortune of $150 million. 

Jennifer Aniston aka Rachel Green: worth $320 million

Jennifer Aniston arguably became the most famous member of the  Friends  troupe. Her role as Rachel Green kicked off her acting career, and she’s not looked back, appearing in blockbuster hits like 2004's  Along Came Polly,  the 2008 tearjerker  Marley and Me , and  Horrible Bosses  in 2011.

She made a triumphant return to TV, starring alongside Reese Witherspoon in the award-winning Apple TV+ series  The Morning Show . 

The sought-after star has also landed several lucrative endorsements with huge companies like Emirates, Aveeno, and SmartWater.

Today, Aniston is thought to be worth a whopping $320 million, making her the richest member of the  Friends  cast by some distance. 

Now discover which member of the Big Bang Theory cast is richest today

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Want to lend a friend money? Ask yourself if you can afford to never see it again

Andrew Limbong

Michelle Singletary and her husband used to lend money to her friends on a regular basis, until one incident "taught us a lesson," she says.

They lent money to a couple in their circle who didn't pay them back on time. "Then we attended a party at their house and noticed this new big-screen TV. And we're thinking, 'So you can buy a $1,500 TV, but you can't give our money back?'"

Singletary, a personal finance columnist for The Washington Post , didn't like that she was pocket-watching her friends. "So my husband and I decided we would only give money we didn't need to get back."

Lending money to friends and family is a tricky business. It can unite people in times of hardship. But it can also complicate relationships, especially because "so much of our financial decisions involve emotions," says Singletary, who is the author of a number of books on money management, including What to Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide.

When a loved one asks to borrow a significant amount of money, you have your own budget to consider — and your relationship, she says. What's your history together? How do you know whether you're in a position to help? Financial experts offer guidance on this topic, including how to say no without feeling guilty and what to do if you're asked to cosign a loan.

We want to hear from you: What are your thoughts on lending money?

Don't lend money. gift it.

The experts we spoke to agreed on this point: Don't lend money to people. If you have the funds and want to help out, give it to them as a gift instead. That way, you don't have to worry about the borrower paying you back or what to do if they don't.

"As individuals, we are not in the business of lending money. We don't know how to do it because there are a lot of feelings involved," says Singletary. "That's why it should be left up to financial institutions."

What is the new etiquette for tipping?

Avoid getting into a situation where the borrower wants to "write up a contract or have terms" on their loan, says financial educator Berna Anat , author of Money Out Loud: All the Financial Stuff No One Taught Us . They imply a contractual obligation, which may put a strain on relationships.

For that reason, Anat says, "if I'm giving money, I'm assuming it's a gift. It's not going to get paid back. So from my end, I know it's money I'm willing to lose."

DO let your budget guide your decision

"Ask yourself: Am I really in a position to be gifting money right now?" says Wendy De La Rosa , an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

If you have extra money to share, then by all means, give the money. But if you have to pull from the funds you've set aside for critical expenditures like your rent, your car payment or tax money, "you are jeopardizing yourself," she says. It also puts you in a vulnerable financial position if the borrower does not pay you back.

DO create boundaries around whom you support

Guilt can play a role in deciding whether to give money to a loved one, says De La Rosa, especially if you were able to climb into a higher tax bracket than the one you grew up in. You probably had some help along the way and might feel some responsibility to pay it back somehow.

How to save money when you're broke

If this sounds like your situation, De La Rosa says to make a shortlist of the people whom you're willing to give money to. Maybe it's direct family only or just your close crew of friends. You can't exhaust your own funds to help everyone.

Don't forget to talk about those boundaries with your partner, says De La Rosa. "I was born in the Dominican Republic. Lots of people sacrificed to bring us here. My husband grew up in Texas. We had to be very clear when we got married about who was in our circle."

DO offer other ways to help

You checked your finances, and you realize you're not in any position to give anyone money. How do you say, "No, but I still care about you?"

Offer other ways to help, say our experts. It's not going to be easy. If someone is coming to you for money, it probably wasn't their first option. They're probably in a bad situation and don't see any other way out. They're vulnerable. And your turning them down is going to hurt.

De La Rosa had to have a "no" conversation with a member of her extended family. "It was painful," she says. But instead of giving the person money, she helped them with their budget. She listed their debts, set up spreadsheets and figured out an action plan to get them out of the hole. "They saw I was there with them. And they really appreciated it."

So think about other ways to assist your loved one during this difficult time. Offer to bring them dinner. Help them with child care so they can pick up a few more shifts at work.

DON'T cosign a loan

If a friend or relative asks you to cosign a loan, don't do it, say our experts. Cosigning a loan means you're agreeing to be responsible for someone else's debt. If the main borrower misses payments, you must repay the loan.

It also means that the debt is on your credit profile, says Singletary. "That could prevent you from getting a loan or make the loan you need more expensive."

Early in her career as a journalist, Singletary asked her grandmother to cosign a car loan. And her grandmother told her: "Let me get this straight. So the bank, which has way more money than I do, turned you down? Now you want to put my finances on the line?"

"That was the end of the conversation," says Singletary. Ultimately, she realized her grandmother was right. "I caught the bus until I could save up enough to get the loan."

Has a friend or family member ever asked to borrow money from you? Tell us about a time when you decided to pitch in — or a time when you had to say no. How did you make your decision? We may feature your response in a story on NPR. Email [email protected] with the subject line "Lending money."

The digital story was written by Malaka Gharib and edited by Meghan Keane. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify , and sign up for our newsletter .

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