YOU HURT MY FEELINGS (2023) – Review

Hey, who says we can’t enjoy a quirky NYC-based character comedy written and directed by one of our lauded indie directors? We’ve got the big fairy tale musical, the turbo-charged thriller, and the new MCU entry, so the blockbuster fanatics have their choices, but happily, there’s room for something a little quieter and more clever. It’s hard to believe we’ve not gotten a feature from this filmmaker in nearly five years. Welcome back! And bonus, it reunites her with the star of a terrific romantic comedy from ten years ago. Yes, there’s a romance at the center of this, but the title reveals it has a bit of a “darker edge” as the lead bemoans to her on-screen hubby, YOU HURT MY FEELINGS.

That “proclaimer” is Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who lives with her hubby Don (Tobias Menzies) in one of the Big Apple’s trendiest neighborhoods. He’s a therapist who works with both individuals and couples in a lush downtown office. His clients are loyal but pretty quirky. Beth is a published author who made a modest splash with her memoir a few years ago. She’s completing her first work of fiction, which Don really likes, though her agent doesn’t seem enthusiastic. In the meantime, she’s teaching a writing course to a small group of historically unaware students at the New School. Happily, it’s not far from where her only son works. Eliot (Owen Teague) is an aspiring playwright, but as he’s fresh out of college, he’s clerking at a cannabis dispensary (which worries Beth). Aside from the teaching gig, Beth spends some time with her younger sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins), either helping out with a charity clothing drive or visiting their prickly widowed mother Georgis (Jeannie Berlin). Sarah is an interior designer for the city’s ultra-rich and is living with frazzled, aspiring actor Mark (Arian Moayed). After a visit to Mom, the sisters decided to surprise their guys, who are clothes shopping at a fancy store. As they quietly sneak up on the unaware duo, they overhear the ongoing conversation as Don tells Mark that he really doesn’t think much of Beth’s new novel. The sisters rush out as Beth endures a panic attack, Sarah thinks she’s overreacting, but Beth sees it as a betrayal. Could this “artistic fib” lead to the end of their marriage, or can she even move past it?

We’ve been inviting her into our living rooms for so long via her amazing TV career, from SNL to “Veep”, that we almost forget the incredible range and performing skills of the wonderful Ms. Louis-Dreyfus. So, consider her complex Beth a big reminder. Her intelligence shines through in the scenes with her various family members and even her clueless students, We can see Beth straining to restrain an eye-roll or snarky comment. Then when she hears of her hubby’s lie, Louis-Dreyfus through her gestures and expressive eyes tells us that Beth has been stabbed in the heart as her soul seems to escape into the ozone. But then during a tense moment at her son’s job, the sublime physical comic actress makes the scene a true showstopper. Though he’s often her “straight man”, Menzies as Don tries to coast through the turbulent sessions of his clients, but is flummoxed by Beth’s new frigid demeanor, all the while considering a “nip and tuck” fearing he appears “tired” Watkins shines as the “kid” sister, who sometimes has to be the parent to the emotionally flailing Beth while holding in her frustrations in trying to please her obtuse wealthy bosses. And she’s got to be supportive of her neurotic actor beau, played by Moayed as a bottomless well of self-doubt and insecurities whose real joy is obsessing over fashion and fame. And Beth and Sarah are a strong emotional “tag-team” as they face off against their somewhat sweet, often surly unpredictable mother given bombastic life by Berlin. Kudos also to Teague, who wants to “break away’ from his folks, but still yearn for their help and support even though watching them share food makes him a bit ill. Oh, as for Don’s patients, Zach Cheery is a passive-aggressive wrecking ball as the near-lifeless Jim. But the movie’s MVPs may be the battling, bickering couple played by real-life marrieds, Amber Tamblyn and David Cross. Their sniping and scowling are the story’s highlights, as they lose patience with each other and silently observe Don. They harken back to the zanies on the Chaicago couch of Dr. Bob Hartley on TV, who might think the arguing was part of their foreplay. What a terrific team!

The aforementioned filmmaker is the gifted Nicole Holofcener, who was last part of the screenwriting team on the underappreciated THE LAST DUEL. Here she’s back in the director’s chair and providing the witty, sophisticated script. Making wonderful use of the Manhatten location, Holofcener eschews any flashy camera or editing flourishes, allowing her actors to scoop up these marvelous bits of dialogue and character quirks and run with it. Everyone gets their moment to shine and score with a look or a quick retort. The last time she worked with Louis-Dreyfus was the engaging ENOUGH SAID, which makes for part of a near-perfect set of cinema “book-ends”. Yes, the big deception at the heart of the story seems trivial, but Holofcener never mocks her characters and allows us to understand their flawed sensibilities. And at 96 minutes, these funny folk don’t overstay their welcome. Let’s just hope that Ms. Holofcener will welcome us back to her cinema world much sooner after gifting us the great YOU HURT MY FEELINGS.

4 Out of 4

YOU HURT MY FEELINGS is now playing in select theatres