Movie Review: You Hurt My Feelings

I showed up for this knowing Julia Louis-Dreyfus was the main draw for me. I’d watch her pretend to be a garbage bag because I know she will bring nuance and humor to any role she is in. You Hurt My Feelings is not exception.

The film follows married couple Beth (Dreyfus) and Don (Tobias Menzies) as they navigate middle age and jobs that neither feel they are succeeding in. Beth is a struggling writer who is dropped by her agent and Don is a therapist who has several patients tell him that he isn’t helping them as much as he could be. Their son, Elliot (Owen Teague) works at a shop selling pot and feels as if he can never live up to his mother’s expectations. All falls apart for Beth when she overhears Don telling a mutual friend that he can’t stand her novel and feels betrayed because he has told her repeatedly that he loves it.

This film isn’t for everyone. If it weren’t for the cast, the film would be an absolute bore. Dreyfus and Menzies, as well as Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, and Zach Cherry in supporting roles, breathe life into a script that is otherwise dull. It isn’t terrible writing at all, in fact each character has their own style of talking that is pretty brilliant.

If you like films that are all dialogue and no action, then this is your film. The resolution doesn’t move mountains, but it does leave you feeling the necessary closure in a film like this. Menzies and Dreyfus are great and worth sitting through the movie for.