There is this obscure movie released in 2006 with the title “Friends With Money“. We wouldn’t have watched it if it were not for the icy cold weather and two extra days of holiday with nothing better to do. Based on the reviews, I wouldn’t have watched it anyways; but from the cover, it seemed like a chick flick and my wife wanted to watch it, plus it has something to do with money. So long story short, we watched the movie.
I won’t talk about the cast and the so-so acting stuff, you can read it up in the reviews. What I would like to talk about are a couple of subtle issues that the movie raises. Below are some of the questions that the movie raises (in fact you can get a glimpse of these questions in this movie trailer). Man.. I would love to have you guys answer these:
- You have a lot of money planned for charitable donations. At some point of time you are suddenly informed that one of your good friends is in trouble with his/her finances. What would you do? Go ahead with the charity? Or help your friend first?
- Now, consider yourself as the friend-in-financial-trouble, you know that one of your rich friends is planning to donate $2 million to charity, would you ask him/her to help through your financial troubles?
- In the movie there are a few instances in which Olivia’s (Aniston) boyfriend keeps following her into the houses she cleans, does diddly squad, and then with a straight face, asks her for his “share” for “helping” her out. Apparently he is rich (makes like $75 an hour) but still asks none the less. What would be your reaction if your boyfriend/girlfriend did this to you?
- If you were an incredibly rich guy/girl, and at some point of time you hired a maid to clean your house, would you haggle with her to reduce her charges from $50 to $40?
- In your opinion, would you have a better sex life if you had more money? In other words, would you be more “connected” with your spouse/partner if you had more money? (is this profound or what?
)
Think over these for a while.
I will be glad to know your answers, but I understand that it’s personal stuff so it’s alright if you don’t leave a comment. The purpose of this post is just to raise these issues in your head….may be you will face them yourself someday..who knows.
Watch this flick if you get a chance. I won’t recommend it as a “great” movie, but I would certainly recommend it as a “thoughtful” movie. Just don’t expect too much of thrill in this one (it’s pretty dry).
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m going to rent it this weekend - then again I’m a Chick
but the premise of the movie does make it worth checking out. I think it would be hard to know I had the ability to give away 2 million dollars yet watched my friend struggle… then again, donating that money to the friend and watch them not use the money well would be oh so painful - it could damage the friendship either way.
I’ve gone over so many technorati blogs tagged money. I did not come accross one blog that had a businessman asking for how would he promote his business to generate revenue to pay for the ever increasing expenses for his business. The sign of Times, as the TV stations would say.
I haven’t seen the movie, I think it depends on what “financial troubles” meant. Were they about to get evicted? Basically, do they need it worse than the charity?
From the description of Aniston’s boyfriend, he’s a jerk no matter how rich or poor he is
Tammy: I understand what you mean. Personally, the way I am, my choice is very clear
friend comes before charity. If a charity doesn’t get money from XYZ donor, they could always ask for money from ABC donor…for a friend that might be difficult. In fact, If I had 2 million dollars, giving a few thousand to a good long time friend-in-trouble would be “take-it-no-questions-asked” deal for me. I know it’s not wise, but I would take that chance.
Jonathan: Yeah… I think I oversimplified the situation a bit in the post. I think you need to watch the movie to get a clearer picture. Absolutely agree with you on the Mr. Boyfriend.
Satish: Appreciate your commenting on this post, but I am like “huh !?”
1. This one is fairly easy for me, is this the first time? or another “I need help” phone call? Every one of my friends gets some help from me. But some people will milk it and create a dependency, so the best thing to do there is to say no. Like Tammy said “it could damage the friendship either way”.
2. Me personally, I would not ask for help. I don’t live an exciting enough life to need a huge financial windfall just to survive
3. I’d share it the first time, and then tell her to stay outside the house from now on.
4. Absolutly, $10 is $10. It has a value to it, $10 worth of either goods or services. If market value was $40 and the maid service wanted $50 because I was rich, I would get another estimate.
1. I would help my friend first, end of story. To be able to do that would be great
2. I would never ask them to help me. I wouldn’t put them in the position of having to say no or feeling obligated
3. I’d say, “are you on crack?!” and probably dump the person
4. I don’t haggle much even being not incredibly wealthy…..if I were rich I wouldn’t haggle either
5. I don’t see having more money changing my connection with my wife
As Salon.com’s Andrew O’Hehir says regarding “Friends With Money,” Once and for all, people: This. Was. Not. A. Chick flick.
So, that aside–on to the questions!
1) Help the friend. Charitable giving, for me, anyway, comes from a similar place as friendship: a combination of love, empathy, and a sense of obligation.
2) I guess I’d rather rely on my family for emergency financial help than a friend–I’d try to avoid asking unless it were a matter of life or death.
3) I would probably giving the old “you have got to be kidding me, and if you aren’t, you should be” face. If he realized the error of his ways, we’d work it out. If not, he’s history, because it seems to me that there’s a very simple failure of empathy and ethics that goes into such a request.
4) No–it’s kind of weird to me to hire someone else’s services in my home, and I think I’d want to pay generously.
5) And again, no. Well, not the sex part. The connection? It’s entirely possible (probable, even) that with more money, I’d have more time to spend with people I love. Hopefully, I’d also have less grumpiness about entry-level jobs. So as to connections, maybe.
Your posts are always amusing! I saw that movie and was about as thrilled by it as you sound =( Anyway, with respect to your questions:
1) Wow, tricky.. As Bro mentioned, it would depend on how often that friend has asked for $$$ in the past, whether they might be trying to “milk it.” I think I might set an imaginary limit to loans that I would be willing to lend to friends, no questions asked. But anything above that limit I would have to reconsider.
2) Call it pride but I have enough trouble asking for help for anything, let alone money
3) First time it happens, I’ll make the BF buy me something REALLY nice (hey, he can afford it). But if he’s really being a bum, I’m gonna kick his a** out the door
4) Sadly, I’d probably haggle down the price. Inherited trait.
5) It would worry me more what sort of attitude my BF had about money than how much is in his wallet. He (or I) could be very rich but if we didn’t know how to handle it, then it would make things worse.
Leave a Comment