You Hurt My Feelings (2023 film)

You Hurt My Feelings is a 2023 American comedy-drama film written, directed and produced by Nicole Holofcener. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed and Jeannie Berlin.

You Hurt My Feelings
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nicole Holofcener
Written by	Nicole Holofcener
Produced by	Anthony Bregman Stefanie Azpiazu Nicole Holofcener Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Starring	Julia Louis-Dreyfus Tobias Menzies Michaela Watkins Arian Moayed Owen Teague Jeannie Berlin
Cinematography	Jeffrey Waldron
Edited by	Alisa Lepselter
Music by	Michael Andrews
Production companies	FilmNation Entertainment Likely Story
Distributed by	A24
Release dates	January 22, 2023 (2023-01-22) (Sundance) May 26, 2023 (2023-05-26) (United States)
Running time	93 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Box office	$5.7 million[2][3]

The film was shot in New York City in May 2022. It had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023, and was released in the United States on May 26, 2023, by A24.

Plot

Beth is a successful memoirist and creative writing teacher who has recently written her first novel. She is in a loving marriage with Don, a therapist, and they have a son, Elliot, who works at a cannabis store. Don is self-conscious about aging and struggles with his patients, many of whose problems he is not engaged with.

Beth's agent tells her the novel needs multiple revisions, causing Beth to doubt her work. She is reassured by Don, who reads a draft of the book and suggests looking for another agent who is more enthusiastic about it. While shopping for socks, Don confesses to his brother-in-law and actor Mark that he does not like Beth's novel but feels he cannot be honest with her. Beth accidentally overhears their conversation when entering the shop with her sister Sarah, and Beth's faith in their relationship is shaken. In an attempt to reassure her, Sarah tells Beth she occasionally lies to her husband about his acting performances, but this does not comfort Beth. Mark later gets publicly fired in a play and considers quitting his acting career, but Sarah convinces him to continue as it's only his first time getting fired.

Beth continues to struggle and gets increasingly annoyed with Don. At Mark's birthday dinner, Beth finally tells Don she overheard what he said. Though Don tries to tell Beth she is missing context, he eventually reveals that he does not like her book but didn't want to discourage her. When Elliot accuses Beth of putting pressure on him to be extraordinary, Don and Beth finally discuss their differences. They talk about white lies they have told each other, and Beth realizes the way she reacts is partly due to her controlling father's verbal abuse from her childhood. She eventually finds a new, more enthusiastic agent.

One year later, Beth's novel is published. Don and Beth, now reconciled, celebrate their anniversary together. Mark achieves success in another play, and Elliot finishes the first draft of a novel he's writing and gives copies to his parents. Don decides to go through eye surgery, and Beth tells him that he's going to look great. The two go to bed and begin reading Elliot's draft.

Cast

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Beth
• Tobias Menzies as Don
• Michaela Watkins as Sarah
• Arian Moayed as Mark
• Owen Teague as Elliot
• Jeannie Berlin as Georgia
• Amber Tamblyn as Carolyn
• David Cross as Jonathan
• Zach Cherry as Jim
• Sarah Steele as Frankie
• LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Sylvia
• Sunita Mani as Dr. Allen
• Deniz Akdeniz as Vince
• Clara Wong as Ali

Production

In October 2021, it was announced Julia Louis-Dreyfus would star in and produce the film, then titled Beth and Don, with Nicole Holofcener directing from a screenplay she wrote.^[4] In May 2022, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, Jeannie Berlin, David Cross and Amber Tamblyn joined the cast of the film.^[5]

Principal photography began in May 2022, in New York City.^[6] Cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron said, "I worked to build a natural, inviting New York look that didn't distract from the unfolding story, but brought cinematic punctuation to its important human moments". To achieve this, he used an Arri Alexa Mini camera with custom-adjusted Panavision Primo lenses. In order to make the film feel "filmic, human and handmade", he further softened and reduced contrast in prep with the help of a custom film emulation LUT.^[7]

Release

A24 picked up the U.S. distribution rights at the 2021 American Film Market.^[8] The film premiered on January 22, 2023, at the Sundance Film Festival.^[9] It was released in theatres on May 26, 2023.^[10]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, You Hurt My Feelings was released alongside The Little Mermaid, Kandahar, The Machine, and About My Father, and was projected to gross around $1 million from 912 theatres over its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend.^[11] The film grossed $474,000 on its first day, and debuted to $1.4 million over the 3-day weekend (and $1.8 million over a four-day time frame).^[12][13]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 219 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Smart, funny, and above all entertaining, You Hurt My Feelings finds writer-director Nicole Holofcener as sharply perceptive as ever."^[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[15] Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an overall 75% positive score, with 42% saying they would definitely recommend it.^[12]