A novelist’s longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband giving his honest reaction to her latest book.
Chuck says:
Issues of self-esteem and mental wellness are at the forefront of Nicole Holofcener’s “You Hurt My Feelings,” an examination of four New Yorkers who are beginning to crack under the pressures of living and competing in the city. More accurately, the dilemmas they contend with are of their own making and if you were to look up the term “first-world problems,” chances are their troubles would be listed as prime examples. As a result, it’s difficult to relate to what these people are going through, and far too easy to brush aside their “woe is me” complaints.
Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) teaches writing at the New School, a position she attained based on a series of articles she’d written as well as a memoir that failed to light up the marketplace. Her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) is a successful therapist, her sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) is an interior designer, and her husband Mark (Arian Moayed) is an actor. Each has found some level of success in their chosen fields but now they are all wracked with doubt. Don overhears some of his patients complain about his approach when their sessions are done, Sarah has a client who is very hard to please and Mark has just been fired from a play. But it’s Beth who is the most troubled as her editor has rejected her novel. Obviously, this is a blow to her ego, which is exacerbated when she overhears her husband tell Mark that, though he’s read the book numerous times and given her positive feedback, he really doesn’t think it’s that good.
Hurtful? Yes. Devastating? Hardly. Yet, from Beth’s reaction you would think it was the end of the world. She contends she can never trust Don again and begins to question everything he’s ever said to her. That she refuses to see that he was trying to spare her feelings and be supportive is maddening. While this is an effective display of her narcissism, it makes the character so unlikeable, you end up hoping for something truly awful to happen to provide some perspective. The troubles of the other three principals pale in comparison but are more relatable. Doubts about whether you are effective at your job or questioning what you should do with your life make much more sense and as result, these characters are much less abrasive.
These self-absorbed, entitled New Yorkers were obviously waiting to be in the next Woody Allen film that never came along. To be sure, he does not have a trademark on the city or these character types; however, for the most part, his characters are seen as a bit foolish, caught up in the troubles of their own making, which allow us to laugh at them. That’s not the case here, as Beth, Don and the rest are much too serious about all that plagues them. Had the director employed a bit of self-effacing humor throughout, it would have provided an avenue for us to connect with them. As it is, I just wanted them to get over themselves.
2 1/2 Stars
