Feb 9: Reality Bites

"Generation X Graduates face life after college with a filmmaker looking for work and love in Houston."

   Reality Bites is a movie that has characters that are absolutely full of themselves and insanely pretentious. The film is set in the mid 90's as a group of Generation Xers attempt to find meaning in life and love after graduating college. This attempt shows a cast full of a naive, pompous and arrogant people thinking they are meant to solve all of the world's problems, while being better than everyone else. If this movie was filmed today, I have a feeling it would be all about those f**ked up individuals we call hipsters. 

I hate you. I hate you so much. 

   I wasn't part of this demographic, leaving college for the real world in the 90s, so I don't know if Reality Bites is a great insight to what people were like then. The whole film feels very dated, as so much of what was going on at the time of the movie is not really relevant today. Sure, college graduates these days tend to have more ideas and desires than they do job opportunities, but that doesn't justify a whiny movie. This is actually the third or fourth time I've seen Reality Bites, and I guess it's that, as I grow older, I realize the film is really full of itself. 

Just pucker up your duck lips and post that shit on Facebook. 

   Now, not everything about Reality Bites is conceited and/or pretentious. The soundtrack is one of the best things going for the film and, unlike a lot of the movie's subject matter, has aged very well. The acting is good. Ethan Hawke, who plays the lead guy, is good as always; but, because of what the script wrote him as, he' a complete asshole. Winona Ryder is her usual self, seemingly better than everyone else but has more than enough problems all her own. Here, in 1994, she looks exactly the same as she does now. I think her, Keanu Reeves and Sean Connery are all in on some secret society that has access to the fountain of youth. Either that or they're all vampires. 

They were vampires before vampires were cool. 

The Good:

Great soundtrack and a decent first attempt at directing by Ben Stiller

The Bad:

Self loathing pre-hipster era twenty somethings that can't find happiness in anything... and a lot of complaining

The Ugly:

A film that has so much dialogue about anti-establishment and free living should not have such a massive amount of product placement

Overall: 5.5/10

Best Quote:

Lelaina: He's so cheesy, I can't watch him without crackers.