Grade: C

This is one of those movies where all the good parts are in the previews.  I was really looking forward to seeing Friends With Money – 4 of my favorite actresses star in it – and it came off in the previews looking sweet and heartwarming.  Nope.  It’s kind of sad actually.  Even depressing.  There are 3 Friends with Money, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Frances McDormand.  Who knows what brought these chicks together in the first place – that is never addressed.  Then there is the 1 Friend Without Money – Jennifer Aniston.  She’s pretty much a basket case – has a bad case of not knowing what she wants to be when she grows up and it surviving hand to mouth on her income as a maid and cosmetic samples.  The other friends don’t know if they should help, or how they should help, and meanwhile they’re all dealing with their own issues: depression, anger, a failing marriage, and various charity dinners.  The characters are well drawn and the acting is terrific – but the movie lacks in chemistry and movement – it doesn’t go anywhere.  And when it ends, it just kind of stops… it doesn’t have a nice neat ending.  I don’t like that at all.