LouisaMay If you're a person (especially between 25 and 35), without emotional depth or without spiritual (not necessarily religious) inklings of something beyond yourself, you're morally adrift on a raft of tortuous narcissism. That's what this movie says. Not having emotional depth doesn't mean you don't feel things deeply; it means here you can't empathize with others. In fact the movie shows graphically that without the qualities and sensitivities we think make us most vulnerable, all we can be is mentally wounded, emotionally hurt, damaging to others. A more realistic, sensible portrait of narcissism and its discontents I've never seen. Everyone in this film is so focused on his or her self, nothing that could help can enter. Here is a world without anything transcendent, without even community through which to escape the prison of self absorption. Here is a take on contemporary America.

rumfoord Your Friends & Neighbors is a film about six middle class people plagued by dysfunction and unhappiness. These people do and say things that are awkward, immoral, and nearly always familiar enough to make you cringe. They cheat, lie, and hurt each other--not so much with callousness, but with sad disregard.It's not escapist entertainment, but the film manages to evoke some thought and ambiguous feelings without feeling emotionally labored or difficult. In fact, the normalcy of the characters make it something like an easy to watch soap opera featuring distillations of all those things in real life you'd prefer to forget.Your Friends & Neighbors is also wonderfully cast. Patric's pathological character is a stand out (bearing strong similarity to Eckhart's character in "In the Company of Men"), but with the exception of Kinski, all of the actors manage to captivate us in varying ways--from Brenneman's introverted reactions to Keener's profoundly cold mannerisms.This is an excellent film that might not always be well received but can and should be watched by anyone open to a cynical view of humanity.

triple8 SPOILERS THROUGH: I first saw this movie after a friend recommended it to me. She knew I dug movies like "Closer" & "American Beauty" and told me this was a similar type of film. While I still think the other two are superior I did like this and found it to be a somber, provocative, performance driven multi character study and very interesting to watch.The six main characters were all played with excellence but sometimes in a film, there is one performer who walks away with the movie and in this case it is Jason Patrick. I must say this performance ranks up there as one that should have been awarded with an Aacademy Award but wasn't. Although all the characters are interesting, when Patrick is on screen he is just riveting. I first saw him, like so many movie buffs have, in "Lost Boys" and through the years have admired his performances in movies like "Rush" & "After Dark My Sweet". This is however, hands down, my favorite of his performances and I'm not sure I'd still be giving this film an 8 if he hadn't been in it.This movie is of coarse, about dysfunctional relationships and each performer brings something unique to the role their playing. I found the casting in general to be excellent and though most of the characters are dislikeable, their also interesting and one thing the movie does is get one's attention and keep it. The movie is extremely dialog driven and though it can drag at times, for the most part it stays extremely compelling to watch.Your friends & Neighbors reminded me of such movies as "Closer", "Sex,lies & Videotape" & "American Beauty", all of which I thought were superb. It also reminded me of the not superb but still intriguing "We don't live here anymore". And it even reminded me a bit of this year's "Friends With Money" which I liked a smidgen more then this. Although I did not think this was superb, it was well above average and very very good. If one likes any or all of the above mentioned movies chances are they will probably like this.The reason I did not think this was superb was because of a few things. One was the incomplete feeling I had about this film which I did not have about the above mentioned films I DID think were superb. For example,we, the audience, are not told a heck of a lot about any of these people and though we are exposed to their quirks and dysfunctional aspects, not much detail about them other then these aspects are provided. In some of these other films, I really did not have that feeling to the same degree. Also, The ending in my opinion, was weak when compared to the rest of the film although Brenneman's character ending up with Patrick's came out of left Field And genuinely surprised me.(I had thought at first Keener's character would wind up with him since she seemed to hate vulnerability in anyone she was romantically involved with.) I would have liked this movie to supply me with more detail on the characters of these people because there were to many loose ends and to strong an incomplete feeling at the end. I really had a difficult time with that and feel this should have been longer and a bit more structured.As far as the characters' themselves....well Keener's character was so dislikeable it was difficult to feel much toward her other then annoyance. Yet if the movie had shown more of her life other then telling her lovers to be quiet during sex, I doubt I'd have felt that way. Brenneman's character starts off dislike able but she gradually is developed as a lonely and perhaps depressed woman underneath the vivacity and Brenneman does a really good job with the part. (I think her performance is my second favorite.) Aeron Eckert is an amazing actor who's superb no matter what one sees him in and here he's no different. Stiller of whom I'm really not all that much of a fan, was very very good in a dramatic role and should be doing more dramatic material rather then playing almost the same role in in so many comedies. Natasha Kinski has not gotten as much recognition for her role but she should as her character was probably the most likable and had a sweetness and vulnerability that the others lacked, or perhaps wanted people to think they lacked. I actually though she came off as the most stable.I think in spite of the flaws, this was a really good movie with excellent Performances and my vote would be: see it, see it, see it! Although it's very dark, not very enjoyable at times and may leave one feeling a bit gloomy(or more then a bit) it's story and it's look at the darker aspects of relationships, is really really interesting and makes for kind of the anti sunny Rom com. Not romantic, not sunny, and definitely more then a little disturbing Your Friends & Neighbors is definitely not your typical movie. My vote's 8 of 10.

Galina "Your Friends and Neighbors" (1998) is the second film by director/writer Neil LaBute and it tells the story of three couples and their complicated friendships and relationships. I've seen it more than once during the last couple of days - and I found it incredibly clever written, well acted (especially by Jason Patric and Catherine Keener - their only scene together was the second best in the movie - so dynamic and tight) and skillfully directed. LaBute certainly has a very unique sense of humor and he knows well the history of cinema. To give all characters the names that rhyme - Mary, Barry, Terri, Cheri, Cary and Jerry - was a clever idea - the characters are interchangeable in their relationships and it does not matter really, who is with whom - Mary with Barry or with Cary or Jerry or Barry with Barry, and Cheri with Terri or Jerry? The important thing is that they are selfish and often unpleasant and despicable people who are not happy with themselves and can't make happy their spouses or partners. Another interesting trick - the repeating scene in the Art gallery that starts with exactly the same words for each character but leads to different developments. I mentioned that LaBute knows his movies. Have you noticed the poster from Goddard's Le Mépris, (1963) aka "Contempt" with Brigitte Bardot? "Contempt" features one of the most fascinating and longest scenes of a breakup ever filmed. The breakup scene between Terri (Catherine Keener) and Jerry (Ben Stiller) started like in "Contempt" but it only lasted a few minutes and it was a good scene. Actually, I loved all scenes with Catherine Keener and if I have to choose one character that I liked, it would be Terry. Seems that Charlie Kaufman might have seen LaBute's movie because Terry and Maxine from "Being John Malkovich" have a lot in common. I was actually waiting for Terry to say to Jerry, "The thing is if you ever get me, you would not know what to do with me". Jason Patric was a revelation - I don't know him very well but I remember that he gave a very good performance in "Narc". As for the scene in a steam room, it is not just the best of the film; it is one of the best scenes - monologues ever. I know not many would agree with me but the scene is as powerful, unforgettable and strangely erotic as the monologue in Bergman's "Persona". LaBute's writing, his camera, and mesmerizing performance by Patric made this scene an instant classic. The film is not perfect and sometimes it drags but overall I found it interesting and enjoyable. You don't have to like the characters in order to like and appreciate the film. Sadly, the beautiful, sensual and talented Nastassja Kinski (Cherri) does not have much to play while Ben Stiller does and I am not his fan - even in this film. LaBute's usage of "Metallica"s "Enter Sandman" (performed by Apocalyptica) during the opening and the closing credits instantly pulled me in and Bryony Atkinson's song "My Hollow" is terrific.