‘Money’ an insightful indie gem In theaters

“FRIENDS WITH MONEY,” written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, 90 minutes, rated R. Now playing, Movie Magic Cinemas, Bangor.

Nobody in the new Nicole Holofcener movie, “Friends with Money,” is especially happy, which on paper might make it sound like a dreary downer but in reality turns out to be part of its charm.

The film has a satisfying edge, dialogue that cuts, rage that burns and performances from a fine ensemble cast – Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, Francis McDormand, Joan Cusack – that are amiably askew.

While it’s true that some of the characters are under the illusion that they’re happy, they really aren’t. Others would like to be happy, but since they’re too busy getting in their own way, their happiness remains elusive, frustratingly out of reach.

Working from her own script, Holofcener (“Walking and Talking,” “Lovely and Amazing”) focuses on four female friends at different stages in their lives – three have grown into money while one is nearly destitute. The dynamics of their relationships are observed by Holofcener, though never judged by her – she leaves that to the women.

Aniston, once again strong in an independent movie (she has yet to find a big-budget feature that suits her), is former teacher Olivia, who is unhappily single after a messy breakup with a married man and now is something of a pot-smoking wreck. She cleans homes for a living, which her more-accomplished friends think is beneath her, and she has slumped into a relationship with a bum personal trainer (Scott Caan), who uses her for sex and for cash, and who doesn’t do much for her self-esteem.

There’s Christine (Keener), a screenwriter whose fiery marriage to fellow screenwriter, David (Jason Isaacs), is about to fade to black in the midst of a house renovation, and there’s Franny (Cusack), a multi-millionaire snob married to unlikable Matt (Greg Germann). Rounding out the fold is Jane (McDormand), a successful dress designer who has sunk into a funk. With rumors swirling among her friends that her doting husband, Aaron (Simon McBurney), is gay, she has retreated into herself, with her anger manifesting itself in frequent violent outbursts targeted at strangers.

“Friends with Money” is one of those small, character-driven movies in which the writing and the acting are everything. Screw them up and the film is finished. Since the plot doesn’t allow for the concealment of any flaws within a distracting haze of special effects – and since it lacks anything that might be considered a sense of style – it has to succeed on the strength of its story and its relationships, which it does.

No tricks are employed in this movie and there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking. It’s just competency on all levels. That proves more than enough.

Grade: B

On DVD

“THE PRODUCERS,” directed by Susan Stroman, written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, 129 minutes, rated PG-13.

Susan Stroman’s remake of Mel Brooks’ 1968 classic gets off to a shaky start. Initial scenes are awkward; the meter is off; there’s the sense that the film is getting ahead of itself and the tone is wrong. But then, without warning, the laughs start to hit, then hit harder, and then the film achieves that zenith for which it was meant – the stratosphere, where political correctness doesn’t exist and camp can run amok.

As written by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, “The Producers” is two hours of increasing lunacy, with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising the characters they played on Broadway and in London.

Lane is Max Bialystock, the down-on-his-luck producer who realizes that a major Broadway flop might be a way to achieve great wealth. He’s a shameless opportunist, a con who beds little old ladies in an effort to have at their retirements, which they’re more than happy to give up, but not without a sexual return on their investment. Broderick is Leo Bloom, the jittery accountant with his security blanket at the ready whose creative number crunching is exactly what Bialystock needs to fulfill his wild new plan.

Together, they become a team, with Bialystock’s idea coming down to this – once they secure the worst script possible, Bialystock will collect $2 million in financing from his elderly lady friends. When the musical shuts down after a crushing opening night, they will make off with the loot and enjoy their own retirements, presumably in some tropical paradise, far away from Broadway’s Great White Way.

To achieve such a feat, they tap crazed, pro-Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell), whose musical, “Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolph and Eva at Berchtesgaden,” features just the sort of subject certain to offend everyone.

Unwittingly helping them to complete their dream are showbiz hopeful Ulla (Uma Thurman, towering and fantastic), who hails from Sweden and takes a shine to Leo, as well as the outrageous, mincingly gay couple Roger De Bris (Gary Beach) and Carmen Ghia (Roger Bart), who take the gay stereotype to a whole new level, but not without a very broad wink at the audience.

What ensues can be hilarious, particularly in the song and dance numbers, which tap into the festering root that is Mel Brooks’ brain and find there an absurdist’s release. There is not one subtle moment in this film – subtlety is tossed into the air and shot to the curb. The movie is pure anything-goes overkill, with Stroman embracing a sensibility that is appallingly undisciplined – you know, just as it should be.

Grade: B+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.