Your Friends and Neighbors
[2.5/4.0]
Jerry is a drama professor and his wife, Terri, is a writer working in advertising. Their relationship has become tenuous, as highlighted by the fact that he feels the need to continuously talk and she desires silence, particularly during sex. As a result, Jerry has decided to pursue Mary, who is the wife of his friend Barry. Their relationship is also strained, since her frigidity is squelching his amorousness. Meanwhile, Jerry and Barry have another friend, Cary, who is not in a relationship. This is very understandable since he is an emotionally sadistic jerk who is only interested in control and domination. The final character in the story is Cheri, an artist's assistant whom Terri meets in a gallery and develops a sexual relationship as a response to Jerry's infidelity.
The film is an examination of the characters and the often brutal nature of relationships. Sex is pervasive in the story, but it is not gratuitous, because the physical intimacy experienced by partners reflects a deeper emotional connection, and these are what the characters are missing. This is not limited to just the couples. The three male characters have an enduring friendship, but there are subtle homosexual overtones even here, as witnessed by their locker room behavior.
The title of the film and the fact all the characters have similar, rhyming names is a suggestion that these characters reflect the actual relationships of actual people we may know. Indeed, even the close friends in this story often do not see what transpires below the surface of the complex relationships of their own friends and neighbors. The writing and acting are well developed, as the characters are more than flat stereotypes. The main weakness of the film is a lack of involvement in the story. As we are watching the story of the characters, there is the feeling that we are detachedly watching a laboratory experiment and waiting for its outcome. There is no sense of involvement or empathy with the characters. Perhaps it is because most of the characters are multi-dimensional and flawed, but this is not a handicap for a well made film (like "Happiness").
Moderately recommended. This is a dreary story of the difficulty of relationships. Although it has good material to work with and the characters are well drawn, it lacks the engaging quality that most good character dramas have.
(c) 1999 Murali Krishnan The Art House Squatter http://ArtHouseSquatter.com
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