Palo Alto, CA (2007)
7/10
Rings true to American Graffiti!
14 March 2010
This movie was hilarious the entire way through. I couldn't stop laughing. I think that it's one of the most true to life college movies ever. Every single character reminded me of one of my friends or myself. The actors were brilliant, I've seen almost all of them in either TV shows or other movies. Anthony (played by Ryan Hansen) was just as funny in Party Down a new TV show on Starz which I would recommend to anyone who loved this. I fell in love with Jaime (Autumn Reeser who played Taylor in The OC and was in Smokin Aces 2) who is beautiful with such a nice way of life. The boy she met was Nolan Larson, also my friend's name, played by Johnny Lewis who was Chili in The OC. Tom Arnold was great as a bus driver and one of my favorite characters was the grandma played by the great Eve Brent (The Green Mile). This reminded me of Kicking and Screaming (1995 directed by Noah Baumbach) another true to life college movie that made me reminisce my college years. The only problem is that no one has seen this movie, they need a wide release to reach more audience members. I can't believe that Palo Alto was made by a 20 year old and I can't wait to see what he does next. He put a lot of thought into this movie to make it seem real and had a talented ensemble. Most college movies are just about scoring chicks and drinking beers but this is that and so much more. I'm sure that anyone can relate to a number of the characters. I can't wait to show this to my friends and hope to find it on DVD soon, I know this is the type of movie that I can watch over and over again and still like it just as much. I also recommend Metropolitan (1990 by Whit Stillman) which is a more intellectual side of college kids with great dialogue and a lot of laughs. Also, on the contrary another movie that is so true and almost defined my middle school years was Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995 by Todd Solondz who also directed Happiness) which I saw as a kid and almost lived it out to my own life and just realized it when I saw it a couple months ago.
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