YOU HURT MY FEELINGS

Director: Nicole Holofcener

2023, 93min., R

Screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener

Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michaela Watkins, Jeannie Berlin, Owen Teague, Tobias Menzies

 

Born in NYC where many of her indie-style movies are set – movies driven by witty conversation and perceptive character studies – it’s no surprise that Nicole Holofcener’s work gets compared to Woody Allen (without the baggage.) In fact, the writer/director’s first jobs in the industry were on A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy and Hannah and Her Sisters. She is also known for inspiring great performances from her female leads, from Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Jennifer Aniston, to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The former Seinfeld star plays a novelist whose marriage to her psychiatrist husband (Tobias Menzies, The Crown) stumbles when she overhears him say he dislikes her new book. Funny and sharp, You Can’t Hurt Me asks the question: In relationships, is honesty really the best policy? “The snap and sparkle of her dialogue is like neurotic champagne. It gives you a lift; the conflicts percolate around in it like humane snarky effervescence…” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety.