Reality Bites
The fact that I'm turning thirty in little over a month has gone from being something I ignored to something I dreaded to something I've sort of accepted as just another day in my life. Still, it has left me somewhat reflective over the past and one thing I realized is that in the grand scheme of things, 10 years is like a lifetime ago. So when I look even further past that to high school and the early 90s, my mind can tend to go a bit fuzzy.
That happenned Saturday afternoon. I had just parted company with Shira and her mom for a few minutes so as to allow them to shop for shoes and to allow me to go to the Virgin Megastore next door. Even though it's ridiculously over priced, as retail stores go, it's always a place I can spend hours upon hours at. And occasionally, as was the case Saturday, they do have storewide deals that allow for primo mass buying. This deal, in particular, was a $10 DVD sale on a whole bunch of titles, many of which were actually watchable ones. I ended up grabbing four: Glengary Glenn Ross, Blazing Saddles, the original Austin Powers and Reality Bites.
The first three were easy pickups: I either already owned them on VHS or had them on tapes I made from recording off cable. But the last one was more of a crap shoot, as it had been at least five years (when I would frequently watch Seth's VHS copy) since I'd seen the film. Having enjoyed it then, I assumed it has simply fallen off the radar and this would be a neat pickup on my part. So when I got done with some work and watching the Sopranos last night, I decided to watch it.
And sadly, it doesn't really hold up today. If anything, it felt ancient, almost like watching a disco era flick. Although the themese are somewhat timeless (entering the real world, finding love in less than obvious places, etc.), the approach and the characters had clearly not aged very well. Most notably, Ethan Hawke's Troy, who when I first saw it came across as a funnier more loveable version of Matt Dillon in Singles, annoyed the piss out of me when I watched it. Where his smartass comments seemed funny back then, they seemed tired and forced these days. The fact that Lani ends up with him at the end just makes lose what sympathy I had for her as a character (which wasn't very much).
The remainder of the cast doesn't do much better and every time Janeane Garafolo appears on the screen, I want to shriek in pain. The one part I did enjoy was when Garafolo is sitting in bed being interviewed and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (who was dating Winona Ryder at that time) is just lying lazily behind her.
That pretty much sums up why this movie feels so dated to me.
That happenned Saturday afternoon. I had just parted company with Shira and her mom for a few minutes so as to allow them to shop for shoes and to allow me to go to the Virgin Megastore next door. Even though it's ridiculously over priced, as retail stores go, it's always a place I can spend hours upon hours at. And occasionally, as was the case Saturday, they do have storewide deals that allow for primo mass buying. This deal, in particular, was a $10 DVD sale on a whole bunch of titles, many of which were actually watchable ones. I ended up grabbing four: Glengary Glenn Ross, Blazing Saddles, the original Austin Powers and Reality Bites.
The first three were easy pickups: I either already owned them on VHS or had them on tapes I made from recording off cable. But the last one was more of a crap shoot, as it had been at least five years (when I would frequently watch Seth's VHS copy) since I'd seen the film. Having enjoyed it then, I assumed it has simply fallen off the radar and this would be a neat pickup on my part. So when I got done with some work and watching the Sopranos last night, I decided to watch it.
And sadly, it doesn't really hold up today. If anything, it felt ancient, almost like watching a disco era flick. Although the themese are somewhat timeless (entering the real world, finding love in less than obvious places, etc.), the approach and the characters had clearly not aged very well. Most notably, Ethan Hawke's Troy, who when I first saw it came across as a funnier more loveable version of Matt Dillon in Singles, annoyed the piss out of me when I watched it. Where his smartass comments seemed funny back then, they seemed tired and forced these days. The fact that Lani ends up with him at the end just makes lose what sympathy I had for her as a character (which wasn't very much).
The remainder of the cast doesn't do much better and every time Janeane Garafolo appears on the screen, I want to shriek in pain. The one part I did enjoy was when Garafolo is sitting in bed being interviewed and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (who was dating Winona Ryder at that time) is just lying lazily behind her.
That pretty much sums up why this movie feels so dated to me.
posted by Mike at 3:47 PM
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