Such Good Friends (1971)

Such Good Friends is the kind of grown-up comedy-drama that smiles with its teeth showing: a sharp, cynical satire of marriage, manners, and the little hypocrisies people call “normal.” Otto Preminger stages New York like a glittering pressure cooker, and as one routine hospital visit turns into a social scavenger hunt, the film keeps finding new ways to be funny and bruising at the same time. Dyan Cannon is terrific as Julie—buttoned-up on the surface, quietly volcanic underneath—giving the movie a human center amid all its barbed wit. If you’re looking for a warm, cuddly crowd-pleaser, this isn’t it, but if you want an unsentimental, smartly performed slice of early-’70s urban honesty, it’s a bracingly good time.

Such Good Friends is aiming for a sharp, adult comedy-drama about a tightly wound woman watching her “perfect” life rot from the inside, and it does have moments of biting social satire. But a lot of it now plays like a time capsule in the least flattering way: the pacing is sluggish, the tone is more sour than funny, and the story’s bleakness can feel like it’s punishing you rather than illuminating anything. The dialogue is intentionally nasty and provocative, which some will read as fearless honesty and others will simply find contemptible or in poor taste. If you like cynical, era-specific relationship takedowns and don’t need a satisfying emotional payoff, you might appreciate its nerve; if you’re hoping for warmth, momentum, or catharsis, this probably isn’t for you.