YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: Neil LaBute Starring: Jason Patric, Ben Stiller, Catherine Keener, Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Nastassja Kinski
Neil LaBute must be the kind of director who not only wants to show something about humanity in his films, but he also wants to follow that in his daily life. Some research I've done has led me to discover the guy's a father of two, a practicing Mormon, and a just all-around good guy. So why does his second feature film, following last year's controversial "In the Company of Men," only stumble upon even worse parts of humanity than that film did? What makes a man seem so nice and easy-going in daily life, yet so intense and bleak in his work?
For those of you who found an intense glee in watching "In the Company of Men," you're still going to have to brace yourselves for this one. "Your Friends and Neighbors" is a scathing, bleak, and ultimately claustrophobic film that tosses you right in the middle of a sextet of Manhattan yuppies, and forces you, almost like Malcom MacDowell in "A Clockwork Orange," to watch as these supposedly normal everyday people tear eachother apart psychologically. And dammit if it's not a blast to watch from start to finish. From it's opening scene of a man practicing how he has sex minutes before a hot date to the quick yet unsettling finale, it's as arresting as anything you'll see this year. And in 100 minutes, LaBute says so much about humanity and how our insecurities and hang-ups force us to become monsters to other people.
Unlike "In the Company of Men," which for those who don't know, dealt with two businessmen trying to sexually humiliate a deaf woman as a form of revenge, this film has no plot, yet it manages to widen the scope of the original, not only to twice as many people, but it makes the monsters out of both sexes in an equal fashion. There's still three men who are all, in varying degrees, total jerks, but there's also three women, and all of them just need a good slapping. There's the first couple, Jerry and Teri (a goutee-d Ben Stiller and a butch-looking Catherine Kenner, the latter the wife of indie-director Tom DiCillo), who's relationship is on the brinks because, well, he just talks too much during sex; and then there's the seemingly normal couple, the married Mary and Barry (Amy Brenneman and Aaron Eckhart), who are actually at ends with their relationship because he's a sorry-assed cuckold and her sexual self-esteem is at an end.
When we first meet these people, they're already on the cusp of break-ups, and even before the halfway point, at least one of their members has had an affair with varying degrees of success. For Jerry, he becomes enamored with Mary (nothing to do with his other film out there at all, I believe), while Teri discovers love with an artist assistant named Cheri (Nastassja Kinski) as a form of revenge for Jerry's inability to function at her sexual, well, preference, and later as a retort against his own infedelities.
Above everything stands Cary (Jason Patric - yes, that Jason Patric), an almost-redux of the Chad character from "In the Company of Men," only this time much, much colder. His quiet intensity suggests a psychotic in him just waiting to get out, and as the only one not already involved in a relationship, he becomes the one who is the general violent Cassanova of the film, though not only treating women badly, but also his buds, Jerry and Barry (and just for the record, I noticed the names too, though not until the end credits).
LaBute seals us off into the world of these six, not letting anyone else in except for maybe a silent cameo, and the result is a film which wreaks of claustrophobia set in closed-off locales like restaurants, living rooms, and saunas (where Patric delivers a magnificent monologue that actually ranks up there with that one scene in Bergman's "Persona" as one of the most involving monologues ever put on film). LaBute has become almost like a modern-day Balsac, commenting on society with a witty acid tongue and showing how everyone has one thing on their minds, only this time it's sex. Although it's not just sex, but it's also sexual humiliation and sexual hang-ups, which then lead off into near-psychotic outbursts by the characters on the nearest person.
But don't be fooled - this isn't totally uncomfortable viewing since, thanks to LaBute, this is a downright hysterical film, albeit totally disturbing and unsettling, but nevertheless hysterical. He laces this film with a witty screenplay, and allows it to come off less straight as "In the Company of Men," and more darkly comic, which actually makes it all the more intense. He opens up his commentary to both sexes, and is actually allowed to say more about everyman's ability to devastate everyone else than he did in his first film. But the real wonder is how he was able to not only make everything about this movie totally true, but also make it hysterically funny to watch. I mean, this film has got to be at least the second funniest film I've seen in a couple years. Seriously.
And with a cast that I had 50% faith in (that is for Stiller, Keener, and Eckhart, the latter who is unbelievably unrecognizable, thanks to a major weight gain, a pathetic hair-cut, a tacky moustache - all which makes him look like a "True Lies"-era Bill Paxton - and most importantly, a 180 degree turn from his character in "In the Company of Men"), I was very pleasantly surprised when cast choices as weird as Brenneman (from "Fear"), Kinski, and most of all, Patric, all turned in incredible performances, making everything funny and best of all, realistic. Patric, in particular, comes back completely from his past career. The man who I thought was the most boring, dull actor I've ever seen when I saw "Sleepers" not three years ago turns in a performance which, if seen by anyone, will blast his career off. What a strange turn of events.
"Your Friend and Neighbors" is absolutely incredible and riveting and incredibly enjoyable. Watching it is like watching a horrific accident take place right in front of you - you don't want to look, but you don't want to look away, so you don't and you're munundated with a sight which is firghtening, realistic, and even entertaining in a sick way. "Your Friends and Neighbors" is just like that, which is somewhat like LaBute's first film, only better. He has made a little miracle here, not only by opening up his horizons de criticism, but also by becoming better with direction (thank god he dropped the tedious, stagy long shots). Best of all, he's less snobbish and preachy about it. It's as if he's not pointing the finger at anything, but rather saying that everyone's like this, including himself, and that when we act like this, we deserve any unhappiness which may befall us. That's perhaps the most disturbing and accurate accusation made at humanity in a real long time.
MY RATING (out of 4): ****
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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