Defend the Indefensible: "Reality Bites"

1) In spite of some good moments, it was GAWWWDawful.

2) The overarching *IRONY* was that the whole movie felt like it was produced by the putzes that ran the In Your Face channel (or is that the idea, wink wink)

3) But the worst thing about watching it was trying to convince my girlfriend that having gotten good grades in college and now feeling ambivalent about the working world makes her similar to Wynona Rider's character only about as much as it makes her similar to A MILLION OTHER PEOPLE. (She's usually really fucking intelligent, honest.)

The defense rests.

jaymc OTM, btw. I was like, "What fucking university was she valedictorian of?"

Some unverifiable gossip from me:
When they were first casting Before Sunrise, the rumor around Austin was that David Thewlis was gonna be the leading man. Man, that would have been a whole different movie!

I used to really like Janeane Garofalo when she was just doing standup. I think the tide started to turn when, after The Truth About Cats And Dogs came out, I was staying at a groovy LA hotel for a friend's wedding and it turned out she was staying there too. I saw her standing there complaining to the concierge or one of his helpers "It's not the movie I would have chosen to be my first" or something like this. This was my first inkling that she was going to make a career out of being the Woman Who Hates Hollywood.

My friend and I looked at one another, shrugged, and turned around and left.

also fuck this movie for assisting the impression that every emaciated fuckwad with a) anger management issues, b) a stringy goatee, c) rudimentary guitar skills, and d) the occasional "life is sort of crazy" phrase accompanied by a faraway, deep look is some sort of charismatic shaman.

xpost -- OTM. The funniest part is, that isn't even one of the more memorable lines from the movie, and it's the kind of line that might as well be from ANY movie.

I did like Singles.

a couple of years ago a friend of mine invited me to a party he was going to. he picked me up and we drove to a house in Silver Lake. We walked around back and into the back yard. There was a porch that required us to climb up some steps, to where we saw a handful of smokers outside chattering away. We reached the steps and we heard a guy say, "Coffee and smokes, man, that's all I need." A girl replied, "Reality Bites, right?" He replied, "Yes!" She said, "AWEsome..." Another guy chimed in, "Fuckin' great movie, dude." And all three said, "Yeah, seriously."

My friend and I looked at one another, shrugged, and turned around and left.

"A good review for us...is a good review for you!"

Wow. It really is something you watch at age 21 and think you can relate to. Then you watch it a decade later and think, "Who are these pretentious, self-absorbed assmonkeys?" And then you think, "Oh, wait, I *WAS* one of those pretentious, self-absorbed assmonkeys."

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Roger Ebert's incredible skewering of this movie - highly recommended even if you're not a fan of his:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940218/REVIEWS/402180303/1023

Ebert's always good for pithy witticisms - in general I like him.

Bah, xpost. But it is a perfect line.

Winona is hot as hell, though.

200 cigarettes was harmless and dumb though, unless I'm grossly mistaken