Defend the Indefensible: "Reality Bites"

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Noone has mentioned the name of Ethan Hawke's shitty band yet? For shame, ILX!

― Sym (shmuel), Thursday, 10 June 2004 00:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Hahaha this is fantastic: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110950/board/nest/6622538

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 10 June 2004 00:51 (twenty-two years ago)

You also invalidated yourself by being overly dramatic -- the character of Troy worse than Hitler? Hitler was responsible for the mass murder of twelve million people. The character of Troy was responsible for some dialogue that you found to be overwrought and cliched, and for being a part of a movie that you found to be a waste of ninety minutes. Now, I understand that you weren't serious (you couldn't have been) but next time, you should be a little bit more reasonable in your comparisons.

― Sym (shmuel), Thursday, 10 June 2004 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The worst thing is that they so desperately try to portray Troy as somebody uber-cool. Which he is, hahaha, not.

― Pingu, Thursday, 10 June 2004 05:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought a copy of SFW last night for AUD$3 at a local video store. I'm looking forward to watching it soon :)

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 18 June 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I always admired the way it ripped off Singles.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 18 June 2004 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

In retrospect it was proof positive of how shitty Ben Stiller was.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 18 June 2004 05:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone here ever read the original novel?

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

I finally saw this tonight.

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.)

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

4) Ben Stiller, David Spade, Janine Garoffolo, Wynona Rider ... the movie was a veritable Who's Who in people I always found annoying and now feel vindicated that their careers have tanked.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:40 (twenty-one years ago)

the thing i remember about reality bites is one character answering the phone with 'hi you have reached the winter of our discontent'. all their wallowing in self-pity got too much for me at that exact moment so i turned it off.

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, that was the moment that did me in too.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I felt a little like I was watching a bad NY Times Magazine piece about my generation. No, not even that good. Maybe Newsweek.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Noone has mentioned the name of Ethan Hawke's shitty band yet? For shame, ILX!
Hey, That's My Bike!

The defense rests.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't buy Winona as the valedictorian. They could've made her someone who thrived well in an academic setting but doesn't fare well in the real world -- but in order to make valedictorian I guess I figure you're the kind of person who's just annoyingly driven and ambitious all the time.

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't want to be part of gen x if those moany whingealots are the representatives.

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Anything this movie had to say was said better first by Wayne's World.

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

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:55 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost:
OTM. jaymc OTMFM too. The name of the band was the only thing I could think of for the defense, which defense is crushed by the overwhelming weight of evidence presented by prosecutor Gear! When the movie came out and we came out of the theater after seeing it, the only person who tried to defend it was, forgive the ad hominem attack, the woman who would have wanted to date the Ethan Hawke character. The fortuitous cinema verite accuracy of Ethan Hawke's acts smart/is really dumb dichotomy does not a great film make.

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.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't buy Winona as the valedictorian
I don't know if there is an ILX backlash against this movie or not, but for a more accurate portrayal of a valedictorian see, um, Ghost World.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:13 (twenty-one years ago)

If I ever express any 'meh'-ness toward Ghost World, it's usually just because I liked the comic so much more.

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:15 (twenty-one years ago)

(But I did like the movie, too.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:15 (twenty-one years ago)

If I had to choose one of those two to watch again, I'd probably just flip a coin. I guess at least Ghost World had the Blues Hammer scene.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:20 (twenty-one years ago)

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.

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.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:24 (twenty-one years ago)

What really made me angry about Reality Bites (as opposed to any other mediocre movie that I'd just shrug off) was the way it had all the superficial trappings of being about my generation, and even about some people I know -- and yet got everything below the surface ENTIRELY wrong.

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.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 January 2005 07:26 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

I was appalled all the way through the film, but when Ethan Hawke got to the third verse of "Add It Up" and left out the "fuck" ("why can't I get just one ....? why can't I get just one ....?"), that pushed it over the edge. I knew I was in the presence of truly epochal awfulness.

I did like Singles.

― mike a, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I just saw Ethan Hawke's butt crack last night.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Hopefully with a sledgehammer.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Now that I would like to see.

― Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

o why can't i get just one screw

― gear (gear), Monday, 10 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

God what a hateable movie. But what a lovely thread, not least for this from Gear a bit upthread:

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.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 20:11 (twenty years ago)

I must also admit to liking singles. Cambell Scott and Matt Dillon are both really good in that.

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

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

lisa loeb has a reality show on E! now where she goes on dates and tries to find a husband and they play "Stay" 30 times every half hour and mention this movie at least once every five minutes. she's still cute though.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

Ben Stiller's career has not "tanked".

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 22:04 (twenty years ago)

My girlfriend had never seen this, so I rented it for her a few months back, seeing as I'd enjoyed it when it first came out.

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

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 23:00 (twenty years ago)

oh I should watch my dvd of this finally.
I love winona and especially ethan.
he's amazing.

― clodia pulchra (emo by proxy), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 23:02 (twenty years ago)

But of course these observations go against the deep-seated prejudices of the movie, which are that anyone who shoots documentary video footage of friends is a genius; anyone who is pushing 30 and has a good job has sold out; and anyone who is simultaneously unemployed and hostile is a reservoir of truth.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 23:25 (twenty years ago)

I never saw this movie. Now I'm wondering if I should, out of a duty to my *shudder* generation.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:01 (twenty years ago)

haha "the outcome will be a surprise to anyone who has never seen a movie before."

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

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:04 (twenty years ago)

the outcome will be a surprise to anyone who has never seen a movie before

Bah, xpost. But it is a perfect line.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:05 (twenty years ago)

haha - I'm one step ahead of you today, Raggett!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:06 (twenty years ago)

Why has nobody mentioned 200 cigarettes?, a movie even worse that Reality Bits if memory serves me correctly

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:45 (twenty years ago)

Miccio was right upthread: it's much better than other films of its ilk. Doesn't mean it's great though (Before Sunrise is the masterpiece and I'll spar with anyone who disagrees); but I'm still taken with Winona Ryder, at the peak of her beauty and intelligence.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

That Ebert review is 100% spot-on, in my opinion.

Winona is hot as hell, though.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:40 (twenty years ago)

why has nobody mentioned 200 cigarettes?, a movie even worse that Reality Bits if memory serves me correctly

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

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:13 (twenty years ago)

I actually think the Ebert review gives *too* little credit -- I mean I think it's at least possible that the movie doesn't really hold up Ryder as some kind of genius, and anyway her material is about as good as most of the lesser reality shows that have come along since.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:37 (twenty years ago)

Which makes me think that it would be a much more interesting movie if it was about the characters coming to terms with the fact that they aren't as hot shit as they think they are.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:39 (twenty years ago)

I must have been 20 when I saw this piece of crap at an empty cinema and when the lights came up all the other people there were 12 year old girls and one of them looked at me trying to sneak out unnoticed and her and her friends laughed and sneered at my corderoys and messy hair and my generation.

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 06:38 (twenty years ago)

if you grew up in houston it's OK to watch with the volume all the way down and good music on the stereo... sometimes you see places in houston you recognize.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 07:54 (twenty years ago)

Ethan Hawke isn't the only person in SFW.
-- nickalicious (nza2342...), April 6th, 2004.

Cyanide isn't the only ingredient in that rat poison.
-- El Diablo Robotico (nicolew1...), April 6th, 2004.

I am CRYING.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 08:31 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Hey this is on TV right now!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 24 March 2006 07:14 (twenty years ago)

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