|
| . |
|
Slackers 2002 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Dewey Nicks
R, 87 min. (language, sexual content, drug use) |
 |
Starring: Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, James King, Michael C. Maronna, Jason Segel, Laura Prepon
Producers: Neal H. Moritz
Screenplay: David H. Steinberg
Cinematography: James Bagdonas
Distributor: Screen Gems
Released: 2.01.02 (Wide) |
Rating:
 (out of ) |
The basic premise for a film like Slackers is both insulting and idiotic. With the success of teen comdies that
capitalize on crude humor to generate laughs, such as American Pie and Scary Movie, studios are falling over each other
in the attempt to craft the next big hit in the genre. But while those two films were effective (mainly because we are
laughing with them and not at them), Slackers purposely elevates crudity into an art form, except this is far from any
art piece that most would want to study. How screenwriter David Steinberg finds such scenes as singing to a penis sock
puppet, interrupting the main storyline for a "fart break", or exposing a 71-year old woman's breasts for a sponge bath
as humorous, I'll never understand. To enjoy this film (and by judging from the number of people leaving the theater
before its conclusion) you'd have to have the maturity level of a 12-year old.
The film's storyline is preposterous. Instead of studying for exams, Dave (Devon Sawa), Jeff (Michael C. Maronna),
and Sam (Jason Segel) have skated by in college by cheating on their exams. During one of their last, and supposedly
most complex, schemes, Dave has made a costly mistake - he leaves his number for a pretty girl, Angela (James King),
who is taking a test next to him while he copies down the test questions. Ethan (Jason Schwartzman), a psychotic stalker
who longs for Angela, notices this evidence and proceeds to blackmail the three con artists. If they can't get Angela
to fall for him, he will have them expelled from school. Although they agree, Dave has a difficult time carrying out their
plan because he has (predictably) fallen for Angela himself.
What's truly tragic about this film is that Devon Sawa and James King actually show some interesting
chemistry together. By the way, King is a raving beauty whom I fully expect to see in future films in this genre.
When the story focuses on them, and not the unbearably irritating Schwartzman (Rushmore),
it has a fighting chance to succeed. Unfortunately, director Dewey Nicks (a former fashion photographer) is more
interested in grossing out his audience instead of involving them with a coherent storyline. Well, in that sense, he
succeeds. The film is just gross.
Come to think of it, Slackers doesn't have one memorable scene in its entire pathetic arsenal. The only scenes
one is likely to remember will probably come in the form of nightmares of being stuck through this abysmally-unimaginative
disgraceful waste of celluloid a second time. The only remedy for such dreck is for audiences to stop supporting similar films so that
studio executives get the hint and scale back on the increasingly-lobotomized teen comedy genre. This film deserves
to be ground into powder and buried so that no one else can be exposed to its immaturity.
© 2002 Jonathan Cornwell
|
|
 |
 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
 | Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
© 2000 - present ReelCriticReviews
All movie pictures are registered trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective holders
Their use on this site is for informational purposes only and does not imply ownership
|
