Your Friends & Neighbors (1998)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Neil LaBute

Writer (WGA):

Neil LaBute (written by)

Release Date:

21 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Three couples. A dozen relationships. A million problems.

Plot:

Unhappy couples fall apart and hop into other beds with other people.

Plot Keywords:

Writing | Human Relationship | Locker Room | Bare Butt | Lesbianism

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Amy Brenneman	...	Mary
Aaron Eckhart	...	Barry
Catherine Keener	...	Terri
Nastassja Kinski	...	Cheri
Jason Patric	...	Cary
Ben Stiller	...	Jerry

Also Known As:

Friends and Neighbors (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic sexual dialogue, strong sexuality and language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:MA | Portugal:M/16 | New Zealand:R18 | USA:R | Argentina:18 | Canada:18A | France:U | Peru:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

Lots of unbroken takes, especially the scenes at the gallery.

Quotes:

Terri: Why do you find it so hard to fathom that I'd want to be with a woman? I mean, I wanted to be with you. Now I want to be with her. That's all.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kali tapa karfitsa (2000)

Soundtrack:

Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

The point?

There was one thing I liked about this movie. There's a scene where a character is looking at a piece of art work and an art gallery employee walks up. They make small talk, and the scene ends. This scene is repeated for virtually every major character in the movie. The dialogue is virtually the same, except that each conversation ends differently.

It's quirky. Pretty smart stuff. It allows us to learn a little about each of these characters.

Unfortunately, this is probably the only thing I liked about this movie. I couldn't quite figure out what it was about. A bunch of people in relationships (whether married or "single") pretty much end up sleeping with others.

There's an affair behind a husband's back, a lesbian affair behind a boyfriend's back, a devious move by a slick individual near the end, some people will get jealous, others won't. It goes on and on.

There are long talky scenes that never achieved the level of excitement I kept expecting. There are a couple of good laughs in this movie, but it's hardly a comedy. In fact, this was entirely too disorganized to really categorize.

For every good scene (like the one where the guys trade stories about best sexual experiences), there are others which don't pay off. A scene where Patric goes to insult Stiller's girlfriend, for example. Why? Because he's macho? Because he's defending a friend? It just comes off as mean and unnecessary. Why does Stiller's girlfriend get mad when she finds out he's cheating? Isn't she cheating as well? What's the point? Why exactly do the husband and wife not get along? They barely talk to each other, but nobody knows why. It's never revealed. They break up too quickly.

And what does the ending say? That a testosterone-driven, woman-hating, obnoxious son of a gun ends up with the girl everyone wants? Spare me.

It pains me to give this a bad review, because "In The Company Of Men" (Labute's first movie) was superb. Hard-hitting, not easy to watch, but a good, solid film about manipulation. It's not so much about breaking a girl's heart as it is about getting someone to fall into the palm of your hand. The movie has a message, albeit not one we want to pass along.

This movie goes from point A to point B and so on and so on until we are left with a movie that inspires few feelings and leaves the viewer feeling like they've wasted two hours of their life.