Take a story about two couples, one married, one living together, an obnoxious, egotistical misogynist, and a nondescript lesbian, then get six actors with varying degrees of charismatic screen presence to play them, and you have `Your Friends & Neighbors,' written and directed by Neil LaBute. The story centers around six malcontents who interact, mainly, it would seem, for nothing more than to fuel their own desolate existences. The scenes are actually a series of conversations between various combinations of the six people involved here: Barry (Aaron Eckhart) is married to Mary (Amy Brenneman); their marriage is neither happy nor unhappy, apparently, but sexually unsatisfying to both. Jerry (Ben Stiller) lives with Terri (Catherine Keener), but the relationship seems to be in limbo somewhere, and sexually dysfunctional. Cary (Jason Patrick) is a friend of Barry and Jerry, holds women, in general, in low esteem, is probably a latent homosexual (he confides that the `best he's ever had' was a locker room incident with a guy named Tim), and has an abusive nature (he tells of appropriating some hospital stationary and sending a letter to a woman who had dumped him, informing her that her name appears on the list of former partners of a patient who has tested HIV positive). Cheri (Nastassja Kinski) is a lesbian who works in an art gallery, who eventually forms an intimate relationship with Terri. The conversations, apparently meant to be `frank' and `meaningful' discussions of dysfunctional relationships, sexual inadequacy, impotence, preferences and `best of' revelations, comes across as just so much vapid, infantile prattle. There's not a sympathetic character in the bunch, which makes it hard to identify with any of them, or with anything they have to say. A more self-centered bunch you'll never meet; they should all have IT'S ALL ABOUT ME! tattooed on their foreheads. It plays like a version of the television show `Seinfeld.' without the key ingredient that made that show so great, the humor. LaBute just takes himself, and his material, too seriously; his point of view is subjective, and the presentation is totally devoid of humor and nothing less than unimaginative. And what he's done with his actors is inexcusable; he's managed to strip them of their personalities and the qualities that make them distinct, which is to say that he's taken away from them the tools with which they ply their craft.
Despite what LaBute has done, there are still some decent performances here (hence the two-star rating), Jason Patrick's being the most notable; that he can come across so thoroughly repugnant is a credit to his ability as an artist. Keener, as well, does a good job, making Terri, and her concerns, believable. Amy Brenneman plays Mary with a subtle introspection that works well for the character, and Ben Stiller is solid, albeit unlikable, as Jerry. The problem with `Your Friends & Neighbors' is that, in the end, it all seems so meaningless; it's like spending time with dull, witless, uninteresting people (and how cute, their names all rhyme). There's not a memorable scene (or anything you'd want to remember) in the entire movie, and when it's over, you'll most likely find yourself asking, What am I doing here? And that's one, I'm afraid, I can't answer for you. I rate this one 1/10.
Despite what LaBute has done, there are still some decent performances here (hence the two-star rating), Jason Patrick's being the most notable; that he can come across so thoroughly repugnant is a credit to his ability as an artist. Keener, as well, does a good job, making Terri, and her concerns, believable. Amy Brenneman plays Mary with a subtle introspection that works well for the character, and Ben Stiller is solid, albeit unlikable, as Jerry. The problem with `Your Friends & Neighbors' is that, in the end, it all seems so meaningless; it's like spending time with dull, witless, uninteresting people (and how cute, their names all rhyme). There's not a memorable scene (or anything you'd want to remember) in the entire movie, and when it's over, you'll most likely find yourself asking, What am I doing here? And that's one, I'm afraid, I can't answer for you. I rate this one 1/10.