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Review:
 Films
about nothing are a hard sell. Sure, you had “Seinfeld” and “Mad
About You” but those were TV sitcoms which weren't expected to be
hits. This is sort of in that category, but there's less funny
here. These are mostly rich people being unhappy, and some less
than rich people being unhappy. My what fun we're going to have,
folks. Useless suffering! Wow!!
Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is a maid living in the greater Los
Angeles area. What makes her different from most other domestic
workers is that she's not only WASP, but has a bunch of very rich
friends.
Christine and her husband Patrick (Catherine Keener and Jason
Isaacs) are a successful writing team. They're married, have a
kid, and are building an addititon to their house. Their marriage
is falling apart. Tee-Hee. Jane and Aaron (Frances McDormand and
Simon McBurney) are another married couple and are in the fashion
industry. Aaron's what's now called a metrosexual, i.e., someone
who acts gay but isn't. They also have a kid. Finally, there's
Franny and Matt (Joan Cusack and Bob Stephenson), also parents of
one, who have millions and millions. They seem happy. Horrors!!!!
Now with everybody reaching middle age, the group is focused on
the problems of poor Olivia, for the simple reason is that she's
POOR compared with everyone else, and isn't married. So Franny
fixes her up with a her personal trainer(Scott Caan), and this is
the closest it gets to real sitcom that works.
But this is not great sitcom, but more of that notorious TV
cliché, the dramedy, and as such it's mediocre. The acting itself
is fine. After all, the entire cast is filled with a aging former
ingénues, which is good because women that age need the work. This
is going the independent route because this is a film for adults
approaching middle age, and in general they don't have the time or
the money to go to the movies all that often.
As they say: Close but no cigar.
Eric Lurio
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