You end up pulling for these characters not to succeed, necessarily, but to show you that they really care about anything.
Video: Viewers can choose between 1.33:1 (full screen) or 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Though the DVD is mastered in High Definition, the original source materials were a little rough in spots, connected mostly to lighting conditions. When the light isn't just right there's considerably more graininess than in other scenes. But for the most part the picture is decent.
Audio: The audio options are English Dolby Digital 5.1 or French 2.0 Dolby Surround. The sound is better than the video, with a natural-sounding treble and pretty good distribution of ambient noises amid the predominant dialogue. Subtitles are in English and French.
Extras: The commentary with Holofcener and producer Anthony Bregman is better than most. It turns out that the script was quickly written, and the project spent just four-and-a-half weeks in pre-production before a 24-day film shoot, with three of those weeks in L.A. and one in New York. It's interesting to hear that the New York stuff was shot because McDormand will only spend a week away from her family, and so many of her interior scenes were shot close to her brood. We get stories about how the stars climbed on board, and plenty of examples of how low-budget the film was. Cameramen in bathtubs? The director crouching behind the back seat of a real car in a drive-and-talk scene because real cars and real driving was cheaper than the green screen or controlled models. But the most interesting stories concern Aniston's recent break-up and the fact that this film was the first chance that paparazzi had to stalk her. As I said, it's a better-than-average commentary that will especially appeal to film students and Aniston fans.
A behind-the-scenes featurette shows the stars on camera talking about their roles, the director, and the film, but it's one of those pre-release teaser's that's infinitely more interesting if you haven't already seen the film. The only other features are two fly-on-the-wall brief extras showing the L.A. premiere—you know, the usual red carpet stuff—and another on Sundance which is also pretty typical of such features.
Bottom Line: "Friends with Money" is a mixed bag. The dialogue and small moments in these women's lives seems absolutely right. It's just that, even for a character-driven slice-of-life ensemble film, it all feels surprisingly unemotional and one-note. You end up pulling for these characters not to succeed, necessarily, but to show you that they really care about anything.
Audio: The audio options are English Dolby Digital 5.1 or French 2.0 Dolby Surround. The sound is better than the video, with a natural-sounding treble and pretty good distribution of ambient noises amid the predominant dialogue. Subtitles are in English and French.
Extras: The commentary with Holofcener and producer Anthony Bregman is better than most. It turns out that the script was quickly written, and the project spent just four-and-a-half weeks in pre-production before a 24-day film shoot, with three of those weeks in L.A. and one in New York. It's interesting to hear that the New York stuff was shot because McDormand will only spend a week away from her family, and so many of her interior scenes were shot close to her brood. We get stories about how the stars climbed on board, and plenty of examples of how low-budget the film was. Cameramen in bathtubs? The director crouching behind the back seat of a real car in a drive-and-talk scene because real cars and real driving was cheaper than the green screen or controlled models. But the most interesting stories concern Aniston's recent break-up and the fact that this film was the first chance that paparazzi had to stalk her. As I said, it's a better-than-average commentary that will especially appeal to film students and Aniston fans.
A behind-the-scenes featurette shows the stars on camera talking about their roles, the director, and the film, but it's one of those pre-release teaser's that's infinitely more interesting if you haven't already seen the film. The only other features are two fly-on-the-wall brief extras showing the L.A. premiere—you know, the usual red carpet stuff—and another on Sundance which is also pretty typical of such features.
Bottom Line: "Friends with Money" is a mixed bag. The dialogue and small moments in these women's lives seems absolutely right. It's just that, even for a character-driven slice-of-life ensemble film, it all feels surprisingly unemotional and one-note. You end up pulling for these characters not to succeed, necessarily, but to show you that they really care about anything.
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[release]19354[/release]