Reality Bites (1994)

Premise: Following four students after graduation. Okay, that's a little too vague, even for me. Um . . . Troy (Ethan Hawke) loses his job at the news stand, so he moves in with Lelaina (Winona Ryder) and Vicky (Janeane Garofalo). Samy (Steven Zahn) is always around, and Lelaina starts dating Michael (Ben Stiller) after she causes his car to crash into hers.

Wow . . . I am surprised that I haven't written about this movie sooner. I love it, and I watch it all the time. It's so . . . me. Even though this movie came out to lukewarm reviews in 1994, if it had just held off for a few years, it would have done very well. Like Empire Records. Those movies really strike a cord in people my age.

Okay, back to my review. Ben Stiller I love, although I question his directorial choices (e.g The Cable Guy). Nonetheless, this movie isn't very well directed. I mean, Stiller tells the story well, and his character is even better, but I cannot blame him for Helen Childress' script. What was she thinking? Who talks like these people? I don't mean that in the way that people were critical of the dialogue in Dawson's Creek. It's the simple everyday conversation that is lacking in realism in this film. Honestly, people don't talk like this.

Of course, Ryder's acting doesn't help. About a year ago I realized that it wasn't Ryder I liked, it was just that she was in a lot of films that I enjoy. She, in actuality, isn't very good. She overacts simple conversation, and she appears nervous and twittering in any scene that requires more depth or emotion. Hawke is talented, but I'm still mad at him. Thus, that is the only comment he is getting.

The best parts of this film are Garofalo and Zahn. Their characters are far more interesting than Lelaina, the so-called protagonist, and their portrayers are so fab. They are amusing, smart, and a little irreverent.

Consider this idea that I had. Lelaina's documentary isn't particularly good; Troy's band isn't very good. They all seem to be struggling to come to some grand realization after finishing college, like they were going to suddenly figure out what it all meant. And they don't. I think that's the point. Life doesn't come to an apex. There is no one event or time or person that you can pinpoint as the pintessence of your existence. Life is a series of apices that you can never predict. You simply ride them out and pray for more.