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Intellectual House o' Pancakes Webdiary

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2006-05-05 - 11:34 a.m.

I like this latest photo of the ruffians, cuz it looks like a publicity shot for a moody shoe-gazer band from the early 90s:



Saw Friends with Money last night, in part because I never miss a Nicole Holofcener movie, and also because I thought it said "Friends with Monkeys."

Anyway, like all of her films, it was comforting and unsettling in equal measure. On the one hand, it does the heart good to watch a film about people (women, no less!) behaving like people and not like movie characters.

On the other hand, it seems like her characters are increasingly unappealing with each movie--petty, mean, sulky.

There were some great moments, though: Jennifer Aniston's character has an unhealthy attachment to Lancome and Chanel cosmetic samples (I suppose they represent everything she wants in life: creamy luxury, breast-fed from a tube) and towards the end of her sad story she's seen desperately squeezing the very last drops out of a tiny container, the perfect metaphor for thwarted and pointless desire.

Although Aniston is not a very good actress, I was impressed with her ability to be schlumpy and dark and needy in such a way that her naturally luminous TV glow faded completely. I totally bought her character as so lonely and without options that she would date a series of schmucks and be pleasantly surprised by a slightly less schmucky guy at the end.

Be forewarned, though, there are no monkeys in this film.

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