With Friends Like These...

With Friends Like These.... is definitely a cut above most Hollywood films about Hollywood. It is laugh-out-loud funny as well as warm, touching and authentic when it comes to depicting relationships between friends and spouses...a totally worthwhile experience! The entire cast is great, especially Adam Arkin and Laura San Giancommo as transplanted east coasters trying to tough it out until their ship comes in on the west coast. Bill Murray's turn as the self-involved famous producer is a riot. The fact that this film was not distributed at the time it was originally made, is a sad comment on the business end of the business, where so much junk makes it's way to the big screen, and other films, of higher quality, like this one, get lost. The writing is hysterical, filled with rapid one liners reminiscent of classic comedians, delivered with perfect timing. For anyone who has ever suffered through endless casting cattle calls or tried to get "in front" of the right people, this film is a must. For everyone else it's a decided pleasure.

I just saw this film in its 2005 re-release. It's really a fun little film, with quite a few laughs and lots of great moments among a really amazing, well-chosen cast.

It's so much smarter than the average Hollywood film -- which may have been its problem when released?! Who knows why studios do what they do -- and apparently, they didn't do this film justice in 1998 (after all, it has an ensemble cast where -- gasp -- no one is under 30!)

As both a writer and an Italian-American, I got perhaps an extra kick out of the story, which is about survival in Hollywood for these four actor characters and their families -- but the film's humor and theme of friendship is truly universal.

This is a very good film about the folks on the lower rung of the movie industry. I agree that David Straithairn does not get all the credit due and he really brings this movie home. The acting all around is good and examines what happens when one person out of a group of friends gets a chance at the big time. Rent this movie for a totally enjoyable 2 hours.

Wonderfully done! I thought I knew each of the characters. One right after another they became more real. It amazes me why films like this don't get more play! It's realism into the world of auditioning breaks your heart! It shows what people with hearts for their work, these actors, have to go through to get a job! Holding on to HOPE which is all you have. Bill Murray's cameo was right on the money! Unlike in Baseball if you're a 300 hitter you're job on a team should be fairly secure. But with acting, as these characters experience, it's a whole different ball game!

This movie will definitely make the out of work actor want to throw a brick through the TV. However it also makes you see that family and friends is what life is all about!

This original, warm, funny and biting satirical comedy shows us the ups and downs of four character actors in Los Angeles. Their friendships are tested when Martin Scorsese comes to LA to cast "Capone" his new (and fictional) project. A lively, hilarious script is balanced by full, three dimensional performances from the well known faces (particularly the always brilliant David Strathairn), and there are some great cameos to boot.