rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1998
Directed by Neil LaBute; produced by Steve Golin, Jason Patric; written by Neil LaBute
Starring Jason Patric, Amy Brenneman, Ben Stiller, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Your Friends & Neighbors' is a strong movie about very selfish people
cheating on one another. It is also very well acted. Ben Stiller and
Catherine Keener are a couple, Aaron Eckhart and Amy Brenneman are another
couple. Stiller and Eckhart are best friends, a third friend is the single
Jason Patric. Stiller is cheating with Brenneman. Keener has a lesbian
relationship with Nastassja Kinski. The arrogant Patric character has a
different woman almost every night.
Every scene deals with sex, although it is almost always in the dialogue,
not in the sex itself. It is not even about the sex, actually. It is about
human behavior and sex is chosen as the best way to show that. Writer
director Neil LaBute has probably made the right choice. Although you can't
speak of a real story the single scenes are all powerful. Especially the
sequence where the three males talk about the best sex they ever had is one
you will remember. Listen closely to Patric's story and you understand
immediately what kind of person he is.
I have to admit that the movie leaves a strong impression. Like I said, the
acting is very good as well. That you can't feel emotionally engaged to the
characters is probably what makes this movie strong and powerful but I
didn't like it. I can understand why people feel this is a good movie, they
are probably right. For me it is quite important in a movie that I at least
like it. I didn't do that with 'Your Friends & Neighbors'.