Well what can I say about this? It came out when I was still a teenager, and it had all of the elements of the 1990s that kids were getting into because, according to the majority of media outlets, we were the jaded generation that believed in nothing other than grunge music, being pains in the butt for adults, and rocking out without a care in the world. Every generation does this, but this was our version of "Steal This Movie." And while most of that attitude was true and around at the time, you can see how much the creative lines were blurred when you had movies like "S.F.W." coming out and trying to cash in on these trends. Wayne's World, Tank Girl, Beavis & Butthead, Slacker, Clerks, Mall Rats, Natural Born Killers, Drugstore Cowboy, Pump Up the Volume, Bill & Ted's, Singles, Reality Bites, Empire Records...hell, even Ferris Bueller's Day Off had its similar message in the 80s. So what's one more, right?
First off, the movie is ridiculous. The premise (without spoiling it) is thin, unbelievable, and needed a lot of retooling (if the whole screenplay was adapted from a book, and if it was, the book's probably not much better). Even more than "Singles," this movie tries to cram grunge music into every nook and cranny to remind you how street-level Reese Witherspoon and Stephen Dorff's character are (along with their friends), but then they make a weird, Disney-moment every time Dorff's character ("Cliff Spab"...AKA the worst name to be repeated EVER) reminisces about their friend. I'm not going to say what happens, but every time Spab contemplates what went down with his friend, music bussed in from the movie "E.T." gets played, and we're supposed to feel bad for some reason (why, i don't know because Spab wasn't all that close with him in the beginning of the movie or in other scenes either).
Secondly, the objective seemed to make sense, that the media and relatives try and cash in from those around them who become famous...but the message easily becomes turned around on the movie itself for cashing in on the attitudes of cynical youths who are biting the bait that this movie produces.
Third, it should stay a cult movie and nothing more. It's not Dazed & Confused, and it's not Natural Born Killers. The subjects of this movie became lucky in the film to be celebrities due to a minor news story that realistically would never had happened in real life, and if they would have, people wouldn't give the story more than a week of exposure after-the-fact. I liked the addition of the music to commemorate the times, but as a movie, there isn't a lot of groundbreaking material to lump it into a deeper category of film or re-release it on Criterion or anything.
If you're a fan of grunge music or slacker-movies that let you kill 1.5 hours while you're downing a 6-pack, this might be a fun watch once, but I don't think I'll be owning this.
First off, the movie is ridiculous. The premise (without spoiling it) is thin, unbelievable, and needed a lot of retooling (if the whole screenplay was adapted from a book, and if it was, the book's probably not much better). Even more than "Singles," this movie tries to cram grunge music into every nook and cranny to remind you how street-level Reese Witherspoon and Stephen Dorff's character are (along with their friends), but then they make a weird, Disney-moment every time Dorff's character ("Cliff Spab"...AKA the worst name to be repeated EVER) reminisces about their friend. I'm not going to say what happens, but every time Spab contemplates what went down with his friend, music bussed in from the movie "E.T." gets played, and we're supposed to feel bad for some reason (why, i don't know because Spab wasn't all that close with him in the beginning of the movie or in other scenes either).
Secondly, the objective seemed to make sense, that the media and relatives try and cash in from those around them who become famous...but the message easily becomes turned around on the movie itself for cashing in on the attitudes of cynical youths who are biting the bait that this movie produces.
Third, it should stay a cult movie and nothing more. It's not Dazed & Confused, and it's not Natural Born Killers. The subjects of this movie became lucky in the film to be celebrities due to a minor news story that realistically would never had happened in real life, and if they would have, people wouldn't give the story more than a week of exposure after-the-fact. I liked the addition of the music to commemorate the times, but as a movie, there isn't a lot of groundbreaking material to lump it into a deeper category of film or re-release it on Criterion or anything.
If you're a fan of grunge music or slacker-movies that let you kill 1.5 hours while you're downing a 6-pack, this might be a fun watch once, but I don't think I'll be owning this.