S.F.W. (1994) User Reviews

Does Generation X really matter?

[FlashCallahan · 6/10 · 17 March 2013]

Cliff Spab doesn't really care about anything. He gets held hostage at a store for 36 days by terrorists, who demand that the entire thing be broadcast on national television.

Cliff ends up taking a bullet for fellow hostage Wendy - making him a national hero.

The two are the sole survivors of the ordeal, and soon become prisoners of the media.

Cliff escapes it all, only to find himself being pushed further away from Wendy when he needs her most....

Once you get past the fact that Dorff sounds uncannily like Christian Slater, you get another one of those films from the mid nineties that tried to define good old 'generation X'. And for the most part, it works.

Dorff is great as the guy who is having his fifteen minutes of fame, but cannot decipher why people are not mentioning his friend who was killed. But this was a time when media only really dwelled on the good stuff, to sugar coat the public, to get more money behind their new 'celeb'

The film doesn't know what genre it belongs to. One minute it's hilarious, next it's soul searching, and then it goes for a Araki/Solondz hybrid that baffles.

But it's good, and all the performances are great, I just wish it didn't get lost in its own smugness every now and again.

The last fifteen minutes is great though, showing us how fickle the media were/are, and how fame really slips through your fingers, once a new fad has been found.

Everything Matters? S.F.W...

Vicious assault on the media

[Libretio · 5/10 · 4 February 2005]

S.F.W.

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

A feckless young man (Stephen Dorff) becomes an unlikely celebrity after surviving a televised hostage ordeal in his local convenience store, but he's unable to reconcile the tragedy of the siege - in which his best friend (Jack Noseworthy) was killed - with the exaggerated version of events peddled by a ratings-hungry media.

Jefery Levy's cult-movie wannabe pairs Dorff alongside relative newcomer Reese Witherspoon in a vicious assault on the contemporary media, depicted here as a soulless entity concerned solely with ratings and money (yeah, so what else is new?). The message is obvious, but Levy and co-scriptwriter Danny Rubin (GROUNDHOG DAY) revel in their own daring: Dorff and Witherspoon play ordinary characters who emerge from an extraordinary situation and are forced to confront their unexpected (and unwanted) fame. However, Levy's unflattering view of modern journalism (symbolized by John Roarke as a variety of thinly-disguised real-life TV celebrities who feed off other people's misery, and Gary Coleman in a fleeting, self-deprecating cameo) seems a little distorted and misleading, though clearly filtered through the lead character's personal viewpoint. Dorff himself is terrific, as always, playing a charismatic and foul-mouthed Everyman, scornful of the manner in which his personal misfortune has been manipulated to feed the expectations of a mindless, sensation-hungry audience. But there are moments when the screeching soundtrack fades abruptly to silence and Levy concentrates on Dorff's haunted face as he recalls key events - good and bad - from the siege, and the friendships that were forged and destroyed under extreme duress. The movie doesn't say anything new, but the execution is invigorating.

Look out for an early appearance by Tobey Maguire as a young stoner who thinks he's died and gone to heaven when he and his buddy (Dana Allan Young) encounter their idol Dorff on an empty street (a truly hilarious sequence). Steve Antin cameos as a news reporter named after his character in the equally odd INSIDE MONKEY ZETTERLAND, helmed by Levy in 1992.

Nihilism doesn't translate to film

[PIST-OFF · 5/10 · 23 April 2021]

One of those uber nineties movies that critiqued the media and tried to be edgy. These movies look somewhat ridiculous today. (Though the Chase with Charlie Sheen at least managed to be funny). Part of the problem is that the underlying philosophy is a value free world weariness which when put on film comes across as spoiled, stupid, and self indulgent laziness. And since movies are essentially THEE dominant form of media, criticizing media's omnipresence or vanity comes across as blithely self deluded. That said the cast does the best with what they have.... which generally rounds out to putting as much emphasis on their turn to curse as possible. The plot..... if it can be called that makes very very little sense if you stop to think about for more than half a second. The central event of movie is never so much explained as much as it brought back in choppy flashbacks in order to remind the audience about why were following these characters. Better time could be spent watching a smarter film on the topic. I suggest Network.

All that being said, I can't completely hate a movie with this great of a soundtrack. The fact that almost a minute of screen time is given over to the band Gwar makes it at least retain some value. I've also noticed that music from the 50's - 70's is thrown into movies at all different times. But the only time you hear 90s music is in 90's era movies. It's almost as though Gen X in their nihilism forgot to leave any lasting mark on culture.

Ahead of it's time

[alissaroode · 14 May 2001]

I just watched S.F.W. and was amazed at how, at least five years before the major trend of 'reality TV' became the in-thing, this movie satirized it, and showed it for how wrong and un-real it is. This movie scathingly commentates on the media's ability to warp and distort truth, and to give the mundane deep meaning. Cliff Spab is a meaningless person trapped in a meaningless society that does not appreciate the horror of his ordeal and ruthlessly tries to cash in on his pain. This film is chock-full of meaning and irony, and it is simply brilliant.

A beginning director's above-average take on a popular if not worn theme of superficiality of instant fame

[movieswithgreg · 6/10 · 11 June 2021]

It's another movie about an Everyman who is thrust into the eye of instant pop fame by being a hostage in a nationally televised incident. First he enjoys the superficiality of the fame, then.....

In other words, it's mostly like a dozen other films that address this theme, just a little differently. This one's a little more deft at dishing out the satire and irony, despite rocking hard those product placements that films relied on in the 90s, in this case, heineken, which we see too many times to count. Since it was an new emerging director at the time, there's a lot of emphasis on attempts to produce fresh, thoughtful imagery. It's a commentary on the meaninglessness of popular reality tv, which was new then, albeit in the mid-1990s. It's hard to remember in 2021 how new we were to instant-reality-tv fame, and when, despite our addiction to it, we also still seemed to know how tasteless it was, before it became part of our ever-present background via social media. A little of EdTV meets Natural Born Killers, with a pretty and then-promising young Stephen Dorff, and a pretty and cute-as-a-button young Reese Witherspoon.

Kudos for not being afraid to show lower middle-class white Southern California the way it really was and is, without all the California/Los Angeles/Beach cliches that audiences lazily expect. Also kudos for showing the character of Spab as a real life character that he probably should be -- aimless, ambitionless, talentless, but redeemed by innate charisma, gift for gab, and good looks.

This is one of Dorff's better dramatic roles. Witherspoon, on the other hand, was not given much to work with, beyond being the "co-star." Busey, as usual for both he and his father, stole every scene he was in, which wasn't many.

the title says it all

[dt_one · 1/10 · 12 April 2004]

It is one thing for a film to merely be bad, it is quite another for it to insult your intelligence. The latter happened to me in this non-attempt at filmmaking. How the likes of Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon (one of my all time favorite actresses) got messed up in this I'll never know, but I hope they fired their managers afterward. This is, quite possibly, the single worst movie I have ever seen (Roger Ebert agrees!). Every character seems to be a ripoff of some celebrity who probably had the common sense to steer clear of this movie. Every situation seems entirely implausible. What's more, the writer seems to have a vocabulary that extends to only the three words in the title (you figure it out). This was a painful movie to watch, not because of it's depth, but because it is so inexcusably horrible. It may be the first time in my life that I actually felt sorry for the actors, who really were at the mercy of this doomed screenplay. I so not buy for one minute the notion that this movie may simply have been "too deep" to appreciate. Please, I do not need to be insulted again. Reese, I still think you are on top of your game, and this was ten years ago during your indie phase, so I don't hold you accountable, just please don't let it happen again.

Dorff's Best?

[damianphelps · 6/10 · 23 January 2021]

If not its certainly a contender. If anything you could look at the rest of his career and consider he has been searching for ways to recreate this character ever since.

Its a pretty cool movie that along with Natural Born Killers was a high profile examination of, at the time, media practices (NBK in a much more extreme way) and the creation of celebrity (regardless of talent or in spite of it).

Its sassy, funny and for sure entertaining :)

lame movie

[Cindy-39 · 1/10 · 3 July 1999]

I saw this movie on TV without much expectations, but it turned out to be worst than I could have imagined. In fact, S.F.W. is possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. Both the plot and the characters are completely cliched to the point where it's almost painful to watch. It seems like this movie was made just for Stephen Dorff to act self-important in and appeal to the not-so-bright kids of the grunge generation.

Cool!

[Wes-26 · 9/10 · 23 March 2000]

I'm not trying to say that this movie is the greatest movie ever made, but I feel that it is too bad that more people do not know about S.F.W. It's a bit hard to believe the plot, but since when have movie plots played within the guidelines of normal society. Stephen Dorff gives an amazing performance as Cliff Spab. This was the first movie I ever saw him in, and seeing S.F.W. really made me think he is destined for big things. I liked how the story shifted from past to present constantly. This way, you had to wait until the end of the movie to find out what happened at the beginning. Makes it all the more intriguing. I love this movie, and most people would too if they gave it half a chance.

Grunge styled concept movie.

[Ian-100 · 7/10 · 17 August 1999]

S.F.W. is not a great movie. It's not a bad movie. It's the sort of movie which should make up the mainstream. The bland ineffectualities of the average movie are grinding away at our expectations and it may well be helpful to have movies such as this or the Matrix. They're entertaining with a slight side order of thought-provoking.

Like the Matrix, it doesn't ask too much of you, but lets you extend the ideas in your mind with a few pointers. The issue raised in this movie (the disintegration of reality in the media saturated post-modern world) should certainly be covered more in this medium. Though it doesn't use the trick of implication of the viewer (Natural Born Killers, Funny Games), there is a certain guilt created by its admittedly slightly heavy handed media satire.

Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon generally choose their films well (with the notable exception of Space Truckers) and serve them well. This movie will look great on their C.V. though will taint Dorff particularly with the Gen-X tag. The self-destructive lifestyle of Dorff's character grates a little, as he is always groomed with the finest Sub Pop Grunge Brush. Look to films like Gummo for the reality of these grimy lifestyles.

The film is edited so as to lack any real time-scale and is conceptual in nature, with only character sketches and brief insight into the people involved. Hence, there is little empathy with the story from any angle but your own personal emotions on the subject it covers. More films in this genre should be this thoughtful.

One Horrible Movie...

[marek-zhivago · 1/10 · 4 September 2014]

I truly feel sorry for the people who paid money to see this film, and I use that term loosely. With only $64,000 in ticket sales at least only a couple thousand were subjected to the seemingly unending nothingness of this movie. The writing is so patently obvious and juvenile, a five year old could have thought of better lines sitting on the toilet. I don't completely blame the actors for their terrible performances since they had very little to work with from the writing. What I can't believe are the reviewers who rave about this movie. Were we watching the same thing? Were you high? Oh right, given the content, you probably were. Please don't ever waste your time watching this, unless you are contemplating suicide.

S.F.W. ....well I liked it!

[bedragonned · 10/10 · 6 October 2005]

I watched this film not knowing what to expect; what I got was one of the coolest, most original films I've seen. It is ostensibly a hostage-drama set in a Fun-Stop convenience store, but rapidly reveals itself as more; a biting attack on the media circus and the hype machine, a revealing portrayal of suburban life in America, and a comment on the nature of heroes. The leads are played effortlessly by Stephen Dorff (who seems to not be acting at all)and Reece Witherspoon, with excellent support from B-movie stalwarts Joey Lauren Adams and Jack Noseworthy. All the characters are unlike those you see in most films... they are the sort of people you've met, but never expected to see on screen. Characters the hero Spab (Dorff) meets along the way are delightfully unattractive and random, from the hippie Earl and his militant partner to the receptionist in a neck brace at a posh hotel. Richard Portnow's FBI agent has some wonderfully quotable lines, and Mr and Mrs Spab soon reveal themselves to be far from the perfect parents. The arrangement of the story (flashbacks are employed heavily) lets you build up a rounded picture of the events that made Spab a hero, not revealing the true account of what happened in the store until near the end. Up to this point the events are clouded by the media and gossip surrounding the "Fun-Stop Hostage Crisis" and although we are led to believe Spab did something spectacular, the later flashbacks reveal why he is unwilling to assume the mantle of hero and why he seems to be in a bad mood most of the time!. A great film that depicts a classic anti-hero with more than adequate back-up from the script and cast. Watch it soon!.

Brilliant flashes of light

[bob_meg · 6/10 · 19 December 2008]

I saw this movie on release ages ago and it's not hard to fall in love with it at first.

Stephen Dorff's performance is really amazing. You never think for a moment he isn't Cliff Spab, with all the pent-up rage, pain, hostility and hilarity that it entails.

For the first half of the movie, it's really "the Cliff Spab/Stephen Dorff Show." He goes on a sort of Jack Kerouac road trip, bumping heads and rubbing noses with a variety of characters (and some wonderful actors who play them): Jake Busey (a good movie for once), Joey Lauren Adams (always terrific and smokin' hot here), and Pamela Gidley (quite a complex little cameo).

But after his odyssey ends, there doesn't seem to be much of a place to go...the film just stalls. I think the intent was for it to be completely character driven, so I wasn't expecting, well, a story-line or anything, but still.... I was hoping for more of a connection between the final scene, Spab's revelations, and the rest of the movie leading up to that point, but it didn't happen.

Never read the book, but it sounds like that ending would have made more sense. A movie this dark doesn't deserve a happy ending....a little too tidy, in my opinion. But SFW?

S.F.W.: Watching paint dry is more fun than this!!

[HCG714 · 1/10 · 5 July 2003]

S.F.W. the concept was interesting the plot once watched was lame and boring a true waste of a casts time and a industry's money.

Once you see it you will soon forget it!!

Stephen Dorff & Reese Witherspoon just waste there time & talents in a really wasted script. With a better more talented screenwriter and a more talent director the movie could have been so much more mabey even some underground cult film. But what happens to a story about 5 people that are being held hostage in a convenience store for 36 days, & one of them demands from the hostage takers that all TV-stations should broadcast the entire situation live, turns into a boring little movie with nothing more than a loud soundtrack and really bad over the top acting in a really bad made for Tv movie of the week for the big screen.

Whats funny is that Reese Witherspoon is billed as a main character, she is on the cover of the DVD box but she is hardly in the movie, and when she is on screen she shows what talent she does have, but how much of it is wasted.

Stephen Dorff is a great actor, another of the under-rated talents in Hollywood today who seems to find really bad scripts that just really under-rate his talent and "S.F.W." is just another film that is a big mistake on his acting resume.

Rounding out the rest of cast that sseem to waste there talents is both Jake Busey and the very laughable not so talented Natasha Gregson Wagner.

One film I'm adding to my "Worst Films of 1994" list!!!

See it once, if you don't fall asleep, and once the credits roll you will soon forget it.

A Life/Mind-Altering Film

[Jefery · 21 July 2000]

Way, way ahead of it's time (similarly themed films made years after were Natural Born Killers, Mad City, Truman Show), this is, quite simply, a life-altering, mind-altering film which zeroes in on and then embodies the zeitgeist of the nineties. See this film, take a look at the world surround you (especially western popular culture), and think about it. It's also pretty f***in' funny.

A fantastic premise let down by its execution.

[fat_louis · 6/10 · 28 May 2001]

This film, while not the greatest story about media ever told, must be seen... If only for the quality of the acting. The plot veers from left, right and center too fast and the characters seem disjointed as if they all had multiple personalities disorder. The premise on the other hand is fantastic. A couple of 20 year-olds are considered true heroes because they survived an hostage situation everyone got to watch on TV. It tries to say something about the media and the youth culture but it loses momentum very fast. All in all, a missed opportunity.

slacker satire

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 3 November 2016]

Cliff Spab (Stephen Dorff) and his next door neighbor best friend since childhood Joe Dice are slacker fast food workers. The two of them get taken hostage at the local convenient store along with Wendy Pfister (Reese Witherspoon) and others. The terrorists call themselves SPLIT Image and demand to have their hostage video broadcast on live TV. After killing hostages, the authorities relent and the three remaining hostages become worldwide reality stars during their 36 days imprisonment. Cliff would often say S.F.W. in the face of the constant threats. Joe starts a shootout where he's killed. Cliff and Wendy are the two survivors and become separate media stars.

Cliff is a slacker without a cause. It doesn't make him an appealing lead. His story is meandering and his character is aimless. It would have been great to have Cliff and Wendy together but it takes a long time for the characters to reunite. This movie tries to be a satire on the modern media but it's broad without anything funny. It's mimicry rather than insightful. This could have been interesting with more Witherspoon but it eventually wears out its welcome.

The Real Meaning- A Good/Bad Movie

[rjkeenan · 7/10 · 14 May 2013]

Yes, the acting and directing were a little inconsistent, and some of the lines were sophomoric and occasionally downright lame, but the value of the movie lays in it's overall existentialist theme. Cliff Spab doesn't care about the consequences of anything- he's smokes, he drinks, he curses, doesn't care about bettering himself, doesn't really care about the way he looks, and isn't afraid of anything- not even death. Is it because he was overlooked, abused, etc.? Not really. Cliff doesn't revel in fame or attention when he gets it, but rather treats it as a joke because it simply doesn't matter (even if he half enjoys it), hence the phrase "So Fu.... What." The importance of this phrase points to the notion that nothing really matters in life. Someone can get the best grades, go to the best schools, watch their weight, be good to others, always do right, gain fame and notoriety...or they can be shot in the head in the middle of a store robbery. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter. Quoting Chuck Palahniuk, "On a long enough time-line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." Our existence in our solar system, in our galaxy, in the universe is a spec of dust on a spec of dust on a spec of dust, hence SFW (nothing really matters).

The black comedy and satire of this movie comes from the doting media and fans of Cliff Spab. It's not that they really love him, they are just looking for an answer- a motto to guide their lives. But, as in real life, something seemingly meaningful to you one moment becomes a useless fad in the next moment.

In the conclusion of the movie Barbara Wyler tries to shoot Cliff or something (it's really been years), and states her tag-line "Everything matters!" It's the complete opposite theory of Cliff's. Her essential meaning is that everything we do has an affect on the future, future generations, the overall makeup of things on our planet, etc. Her message could be looked at as kind of good, but the irony lies in the fact that she seems all too excited to step directly into Cliff's shoes and be another meaningless, short-lived role model. In essence Cliff was right when he believed nothing matters and Barbara's time in the spotlight will also fade away. One day neither will be remembered and will have no affect on anything or anyone. Even those that followed them for a brief time will be gone and forgotten. It's a sad story of the media misguiding people to waste their short lives with whatever's popular and meaningless in the moment. But, it also questions, if nothing really matters anyway, SFW.

Yawn

[Quetzl · 4/10 · 2 July 1999]

Neat premise, some nifty acting by Dorff and especially Reece Whitherspoon, but unfortunately, this film takes itself WAY too seriously to be taken seriously. This would have made an excellent comedy, and the talent was there in the two leads. Instead, it takes an interesting, original premise and turns it into a preachy borefest. With a lead character like Dorff's, one would assume there would be a little old fashioned, punk rock humor to the proceedings. If I wanted to hear a sermon, I'd start going to church or reading Noam Chomsky (the obvious inspiration for some of this film) books again. Truly a pity, because this could have been a great film.

Such a great movie

[learan84 · 10/10 · 25 June 2001]

I saw this movie about 3 or 4 years ago, and fell in love with it. It was at a period in my life that I needed something to show me that I was still alive and things could always be worse, this movie was it. The characters, the plot, the cinematography, all of it. Every minute of this movie kept me wondering what would happen next, and a lot of had edge of my seat suspense. Stephan Dorff did such a great job of playing this character. Having to balance such an emotionally scarred but still nonchalant young man must have been difficult. I really believed that he had been put through these awful things though, because his performance was that good. Reese Witherspoon also gave a great performance. I believe her role in this movie was slightly under-rated, she played your typical romantic interest but she also was the reason that Dorff's character didn't lose his mind.

I often find that the cinematography is better in independant films, and I believe this was independant. It had some bad language in it, but that doesn't bother me. The symbolism that is throughout this movie amazed me, and I notice something new everytime I watch it. SFW is based on the book 'Madison Heights Syndrom', and even though I've never read the book, I'm sure they did a great job adapting it. There was not one thing about this movie I didn't like and would recommend it to everybody.

the title says it all

[dt_one · 1/10 · 12 April 2004]

It is one thing for a film to merely be bad, it is quite another for it to insult your intelligence. The latter happened to me in this non-attempt at filmmaking. How the likes of Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon (one of my all time favorite actresses) got messed up in this I'll never know, but I hope they fired their managers afterward. This is, quite possibly, the single worst movie I have ever seen (Roger Ebert agrees!). Every character seems to be a ripoff of some celebrity who probably had the common sense to steer clear of this movie. Every situation seems entirely implausible. What's more, the writer seems to have a vocabulary that extends to only the three words in the title (you figure it out). This was a painful movie to watch, not because of it's depth, but because it is so inexcusably horrible. It may be the first time in my life that I actually felt sorry for the actors, who really were at the mercy of this doomed screenplay. I do not buy for one minute the notion that this movie may simply have been "too deep" to appreciate. Please, I do not need to be insulted again. Reese, I still think you are on top of your game, and this was ten years ago during your indie phase, so I don't hold you accountable, just please don't let it happen again.

Slow build to excellence

[dbmntr · 9/10 · 3 October 2020]

This film starts out like a Bill & Ted moronic rerun, but slowly evolves into a deeper introspective into PTSD and the meaning of life for a young disillusioned free spirit. After 36 days in a terrifying hostage crisis, broadcast live like a reality TV show, Cliff Spab tries to return to his normal life, but nothing is the same. Everyone wants a piece of his newfound fame. Stephen Dorff carries the whole film with excellent acting skills. By the end, I was rooting for the young man. He took his character from Bill & Ted, to Ryan Gosling... It's just a shame I had to wait 26 years to see this movie.

Takes you back to a specific and forgotten style point in the 90's

[xynphix · 3/10 · 27 September 2013]

I had high hopes for this movie but was totally disappointed upon seeing it. For how much I didn't like it, something about this movie stuck with me ten years later, looking back I've created a more interesting version of what this movie COULD have been in my head, It put me on the edge of wanting to believe that it was a poor man's Oliver Stone movie. The most intriguing thing about this movie is that watching it puts you in a specific time and place, a short lived style in the early to mid 90's that seems like a twilight zone dream. It captures something about that time that very few movies have done. Other than that quality, the plot, which starts off great slowly rolls down an incline and falls flat off a cliff. The characters almost have depth and catch your interest right from the start but end up over the top annoying, especially the main character Spab. By the end of the movie, he's lost any redeeming quality and Joey Lauren Adams character's continual whining becomes like nails on a chalk board. Having had no background knowledge of this movie upon seeing it, I really thought that Kevin Smith was somehow involved because it has the same feel of his early work and uses a few of the same actors. All in all, this could have been a memorable movie, far ahead of it's time with it's depiction of reality TV and media sensationalism but in reality, was really just a big waste of time.

A horrible situation makes him famous. Now he has to live with it.

[avala · 20 June 1999]

A young man becomes famous due to a horrific situation. Now he has to live with the fame and the memories that it brings. There seem to be too many characters, that are developed only to be left with without discussion after their scene. Stephen Dorff does a great job, which is important, since the movie is mostly watching him walk around and deal with the stresses of his fame. The flashbacks seem to do a good job of show his traumatic stress disorder.

The sound track is great, with a special appearance by GWAR.

See it or not. As the main character says "So F**king What?"

Feels like a corporation's attempt to depict a generation it doesn't understand

[whatch-17931 · 3/10 · 18 March 2021]

Or like it was made by someone's parents. There are numerous celebrity impersonators, most of whom I doubt Generation X would have recognized at the time and certainly wouldn't have cared about.

This movie feels far longer than it actually is and I was definitely not caring what happened. This perhaps would have fit better as a 50 minute Outer Limits episode.

One glaring omission is the film doesn't examine the fact that the hostages were more than just hostages. By being forced to perform for cameras, they were essentially raped.

That makes the corny way most everybody reacts to Spab rather uncomfortable.

Dorff's acting is extremely solid which unfortunately puts him in the "took the bad movie seriously " trope.

There is sort of a twist ending that doesn't help the film at all. It's very cutesy and results in something that seems very serious but ultimately is not serious at all, sending the film straight to "everything's ok" kiddie movie territory.