Jennifer Aniston doesn't seem to be venturing too far from her middle-class TV "Friends" in the world of Friends with Money.

Friends with Money Credit: Sony Picture Classics

Rachel, her indelible sitcom character, has become Olivia, the only one of four middle-aged gal pals who has no mate or career.

Olivia, a former teacher who is now cleaning houses, is a mellow (sometimes downbeat) pot-smoker who is hooked on a married man. Olivia may not be as likable as Rachel, but she is cut from the same cloth. Indeed, she could be the older sister of her character in The Good Girl, the 2002 film in which Aniston played a depressed, pot-smoking 30-year-old wife who takes up with a younger co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal). Though she did a fine job in that film, lately Aniston seems to be struggling to find the right role for her talents.

In the past year she has starred in the bombs Rumor Has It and Derailed. It remains to be seen whether her chemistry with Vince Vaughn in The Break-up, opening in June, will enable her to carve out a new life on the big screen.

Friends with Money Credit: Sony Picture Classics

It's her co-stars who shine in writer/director Nicole Holofcener's ensemble comedy. Holofcener, who made Lovely & Amazing and Walking and Talking, has a keen eye for the nuances of female friendships and for the tenuous comfort of financial stability. Her focus is trained squarely on the world of white, wealthy Southern Californians, and she captures their milieu astutely.