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Avg. Critic Score: 68 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Smart, witty and alert to the buried resentments that poke through the shiny surface of affluence, Holofcener's film recognizes that money is the new sex. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    A pitch-perfect ensemble comedy that burrows deep into the mind-set of white, upper middle-class Angelenos, anxious to strike the right balance among career, family, love life and money but never quite pulling it off. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Greatly appealing if not especially adventurous, either for its director or for her admirers. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    The result is an exquisitely calibrated hypermodern comedy of manners. A quiet but devastating ensemble piece, both acerbic and sweet, "Friends" blends empathy and a great sense of comic timing with the richness of Holofcener's trademark take-no-prisoners observations. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    There is also a manufactured symmetry, an every-gal's-got-issues roundness, an HBO sitcomitude to the movie that undercuts its own observational intelligence. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Stealing the show is Jane, whose rage-fueled rants and scarcely concealed mutterings are loaded with sarcastic bon mots that are delivered to the hilt by McDormand. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Teresa Wiltz

    Nothing much happens here, and even less is resolved. You could make an argument that that's how life is, unresolved, but as a film, it makes for frustrating viewing, particularly when plot threads with the potential to bust open the story are left hanging. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Qualifies as a mild success. It's an easy picture to like, even if it's not exactly satisfying. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The movie lacks the warmth and edge of the two previous features ("Walking and Talking" and "Lovely and Amazing"). It seems to be more of an idea than a story. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The film is likable, with some funny moments and recognizable human conflicts. But the origin of the women's friendship is not explained, and the nature of Olivia's problems is not examined or taken very seriously, making her seem inexplicably lost and shallow. Read full review

View more reviews for Friends with Money on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Smart women go through life changes. For adults.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie includes frequent sexual references and some images. While the latter tend to be brief and comic (a woman who works as a maid dresses up as an ooh-la-la French maid to entertain her boyfriend), the language is explicit, frequent, and usually witty, a means for the women characters to express their frustrations and desires (dialogue includes more than 20 f-words, usually used to describe sex). Some characters say cruel or gossipy things to others (a husband tells his wife she has a "fat ass," some friends say one woman's husband is "gay"). Characters drink wine, beer, and liquor in social situations; Olivia smokes pot in her bedroom and with her boyfriend. Olivia repeatedly calls her ex, a married man.
  • Families can talk about the ways that money affects relationships: How does it create expectations, tensions, and insecurities? How does Olivia's resistance to making or having lots of money like her friends make her an object of pity or concern? How do the women provide support for each other even when they might be mad at each other? How do they cope with depression or disappointment?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Characters argue frequently (especially Christine and her husband), characters lie to one another; Olivia smokes pot and repeatedly calls her ex, a married man; Christine's fights with her husband involve yelling and hurtful comments.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Upset at a couple cutting in line at a store, Jane tries to storm out and walks smack into a glass wall; she goes to the hospital and ends up with a bruised, cut face; Chrisine repeatedly bangs into furniture or trips, but is more embarrassed than injured.
  • sex false5 Sex: Movie opens with a maid (Olivia) finding her employer's vibrator in a drawer; bedroom scenes include nudity and sexual activity (some movement and sound, visuals not explicit and brief); Mike has Olivia dress in French maid outfit as preparation for sex; frequent conversations about sex, using the f-word and slang for genitals and acts; repeated discussions of whether Jane's husband is gay, worries about whether children are gay.
  • language false5 Language: Frequent uses of the f-word (over 20) and slang for sexual activity and genitalia; characters also use s-word and other curse words.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Lancôme, Old Navy, Bloomingdales, Apple laptops.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters talk about Matt smoking (but you don't see it); characters drink; Olivia smokes pot.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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