YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 1998 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
Savage, perceptive, and brutally funny, "Your Friends & Neighbors" is a perfect antidote for anyone considering cheating on his or her partner.
Continuing where he left of with last year's "In the Company of Men," writer/director Neil LaBute has crafted another unsettling film in which his characters say the kinds of things many of us would be hard pressed to admit to even thinking.
Jerry and Terri, although names seem inconsequential in "Your Friends & Neighbors," are live-in lovers whose problems in the bedroom set the film's wheels of deceit in motion. Jerry (Ben Stiller) likes to talk during sex, but it affects Terri's concentration. Terri is played by Catherine Keener, who finally gets the neurotic anger bit right.
Jerry teaches theater to college students but occupations, too, appear to count for little in this film (for what it's worth, Terri writes advertising copy for the sides of tampon boxes--surely only a man could have come up with that?). The on-the-outs couple get together with some old married friends of theirs, Barry and Mary, played by "Men"'s Aaron Eckhart and "Heat"'s Amy Brenneman, who are experiencing some sexual dissatisfaction of their own. They've barely finished with dessert when Jerry secretly asks Mary out on a date. And it's not exactly for coffee.
Barry likes to hang with his misogynistic friend Cary (Jason Patric in a brilliant performance of such psychological cruelty it'll make your skin crawl). The two men compare notes by boasting about their sexual exploits at, where else, the health club. Jerry sometimes hangs out with them too, but it's pretty obvious he doesn't care for Cary's misplaced machismo.
Nastassja Kinski (playing an artist's assistant called Cheri) rounds out the sexually suspect sextet. Along with falling for one of the film's fivesome, she's a key player in a recurring gallery motif that empirically strips social intercourse down to its most mundane roots.
Although the entire cast is laudable, Patric is a standout. In a particularly uncomfortable episode, the camera slowly zooms in on him delivering a scene-stealing monologue. With a bead of sweat hanging from his lower lid, Patric has the look and all of the malevolence of Alex in "A Clockwork Orange." At times LaBute's envelope-pushing dialogue seems designed solely for shock value, but Patric's performance cannot be faulted; it's hard to believe this is the same actor who floundered his way through "Speed 2."
Cary is a guy without an ounce of sympathy, sensitivity or, let's face it, moral fiber. If he was *your* best friend, you'd need some serious counseling too.
The film, which toys with the idea of what constitutes a good or bad person, is at its best when its characters go picnicking on one another with caustic, uncompromising viciousness. It's not always pretty, but it is insightful and LaBute milks the humor from these troubled situations with consummate skill.
The film's final scene doesn't work, but it's one of the few that don't.
Like the inscription "hold me" that Mary scrawls in a book she lends to Jerry, "Your Friends & Neighbors" will make you want to hold onto what you have--the wife who chews her fingernails, the husband who watches too much television--recognizing that there are friends and neighbors out there not worth having.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu
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