Sunday, November 18, 2007

If it's only the mid-1990s, does it still count as nostalgia?: "Reality Bites"

First, a little shout-out to ... myself. Did you know that the post right before this one was the 400th post in the history of this blog? And here I thought we wouldn't make it past 234.

(Really, think about how much time I've wasted with these 400 -- now 401 -- posts. I could have helped build eight or nine Habitat for Humanity houses or something. Then again, the world would be deprived of a repository of insight on such seminal films as "Assault on Precinct 13," "Lord of the G-Strings" and ... wait for it ... "Krull." Fair trade, I say.)

So The Luminous Lady in My Life and I were searching for something we could both watch this fair Sunday evening when I saw this holdover from our college years was starting on an HD channel. I'll admit being curious to see how well the aimless adventures of Winona, Ethan and Janeane held up here in 2007. Not so great, I found.

Our story, as you may recall, revolves around recent college grads trying, to varying degrees, to make a go at adult life in Houston. Why Houston? Because in L.A. they all would have just gone into porn! Easy choice, right?

Winona Ryder is the smart girl who documents the group's trials and tribulations by videotape. Janeane Garofalo is her roommate and gal pal; look at them sing songs and dance together! Steve Zahn is their gay friend. Ethan "So Poor I Can't Afford a Real Goatee" Hawke is a slacker/lead singer for a band going nowhere. Oh, and there's just a wee bit of sexual tension between him a Winona. Got to have that.

Winona has job troubles but finds a potential paramour in Ben Stiller, also our director and who -- wow -- looks about 16 here. And sure, there's something of a love triangle here between our heroine and two very different guys. But the larger struggle -- you know, the big meaning -- is whether Winona is going to grow up and therefore SELL OUT AND LET HER SOUL DIE or follow her heart and keep it real, viable career and stable income be damned.

Now I won't argue that the five lead actors -- the gang of four and future Gaylord Focker -- do a decent job in their roles. Winona looks wounded at the right times, Janeane is awkward-hip, Zahn is comic relief, Hawke is an alternadick and Stiller is a yuppie sell-out. Each one seems the right fit, and they're even tolerable part of the time.

The reason that's only "part of the time" is because the overall story and the dialogue end up being annoying and even insufferable. Listen, I've been known to drop a movie/TV reference or seven during conversation; sue me for not having that many original thoughts. But man, do I not want to see that kind of stream of crap constantly coming from these people's mouths. The "Good Times" drinking game? Sure. The non-stop lines from commercials? Not so much.

It might be something if the appropriation of pop culture stuff really illustrated the insecurities of these characters. Stiller does try to show that, I suppose, but fails, and this seems the least of his feature-film directorial turns, suffering by comparison to the later "Zoolander" and, oh yes, "The Cable Guy." Even with amusing turns such as Winona's embarrassment of Martin Crane during his silly morning show, "Reality Bites" ultimately is too light and inconsequential to have much impact.

And I don't think it's because I'm now in my mid-30s. When this came out, I was just a year or two younger than these characters. Hard to remember exactly how I felt then -- I may have been drunk once or twice in college -- but I don't recall watching this movie and thinking, "Wow, deep, man." More like, "Hey, I don't think Winona's wearing a bra there."

2 Comments:

At 8:06 PM, Blogger Jefferson said...

I agree.

 
At 11:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't remember a portugese character in Reality Bites. Maybe he was one of the guys in Hawke's grunge band. Speaking of Hawke, he was one of those characters I just want to punch and say "get a job you damn Hippie... er I mean Slacker".

 

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