YOU HURT MY FEELINGS is directed by Nicole Holofcener. The film stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, and Jeannie Berlin.
Beth is a somewhat successful novelist living in New York City with her husband Don, a therapist. She’s close with her sister and as a strained relationship with her mother. Trying to get her new novel published and distributed while teaching writing classes, she finds her marriage on the rocks when she overhears her husband saying he was bored by reading her work. Will the two save their marriage, or will this shocking revelation be too much for Beth to handle?
A24 has been on a roll for the past several years, continuing to release a wide variety of diverse and critically acclaimed films; the most recent Best Picture winner, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, was one of theirs. There’s rarely a miss from this house of cinema, and when I heard they’d be releasing a new comedy-drama of sorts staring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I’ve always loved seeing on the big and small screens alike, I knew it was one I’d have to see for myself. YOU HURT MY FEELINGS succeeds as a film by being grounded and relatable. It’s the perfect combination of comedy and drama, with neither overwhelming the other.
While the movie has a wide and diverse supporting cast, this film belongs to Dreyfus. You may not be a professional author, but I assure you that you’ll find something you can relate to in YOU HURT MY FEELINGS. This is one of her strongest dramatic performances, but also one of the best comedic ones as well. Everyone in the movie has a fantastic chemistry, whether it be a friendly family meal together or a heated argument.
What’s truly amazing about the film is how funny it is without having to result to cheap humor. F-bombs are certainly in no small supply here (likely what got the film its R rating), but the witty script and razor-sharp dialogue are top-notch. While it’s certainly not the most original screenplay ever, it hits all the emotional high, as all the comical ones. Aside from one (largely unnecessary) sequence involving armed robbery, the whole movie manages to feel grounded. The film is set in New York City (because every movie ever made is), but it still manages to maintain a small and more intimate feel despite being shot in this massive metropolis, and that’s no small task.
If there’s one issue with the movie it’s that it never quite gets enough time to fully develop its various plotlines and characters; you could take nearly any character in this movie and easily create a movie around that character/their job/etc. But it’s truly disappointing to see a handful of characters who get a scene or two and are shafted, ranging from literary agents, to a clashing lesbian couple in a bar and a dysfunctional couple in Don’s therapy practice. While I honestly appreciated the fast pacing and the fact that the movie didn’t suffer from any excessive length or padding, I did find myself wanting more of many of these characters than the film offers.
Despite a few too many characters and subplots (they could’ve halved the numbers of them and lost nothing in terms of overall quality), YOU HURT MY FEELINGS is another fantastic performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfus and a great film from A24, the company that seems to do no wrong these days. Grounded all the stronger for it, this comedy-drama comes highly recommended!
By Taylor T Carlson
Taylor T Carlson Assistant Editor/Senior Staff Writer Taylor T. Carlson was born August 17, 1984, and has called the Vegas Valley home his entire life. A die-hard fan of classic rock and metal music, Taylor has been writing album and concert reviews since he was 16 years old, and continues to do so, having done well over 1,000 reviews. He is also a fan of video gaming and cinema, and has reviewed a number of games and films as well, old and new alike. His thorough and honest (some would say brutally honest) reviewing style has won him the respect of hundreds of music fans and musicians alike, both local and abroad, and the ire of just as many others. Despite being one of the youngest attendees at classic hard rock/metal shows around Vegas, he is also one of the most knowledgeable, having gained the unofficial nickname of “The Eddie Trunk of Las Vegas.” In addition to reviews, Taylor has written and self-published three books on classic hard rock bands, and is a regular participant in rock and roll trivia contests. Taylor also holds a masters degree in special education from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), and has appeared on the hit History Channel television series Pawn Stars. His dream is to be able to one day make a living from writing music books and reviews.