Post by StevePulaski on Apr 9, 2013 20:55:16 GMT -5
Rating: ★½
Slackers is the kind of "late-night comedy" that doesn't even benefit from being shown after 11:00pm. I doubt assistance of alcohol or another abused drug would make it much funnier either. The film victimizes a lot of great actors to its dirty-minded, juvenile humor that is void of any heart or wit. When That 70's Show's Laura Prepon's time to shine involves her fiercely masturbating on the couch while a character scrounges through her roommates' things, you know you've hit a new-low.
That's what Slackers is; a series of "new-lows" haphazardly jammed into a collage of skits attempting to pass as an eighty-six minute film. Certain comedies can get by with that sort of style (The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World achieved tremendous heights on that basis), but the succeeding ones boast more than a talent for spitball-comedy. In addition to that talent, they could give us characters we like, one-liners we could remember, and an inspired cast. Slackers has characters that would be indescribably lucky to serve Jake and Elwood or Wayne and Garth dinner.
The plot: Dave (Devon Sawa) has cheated his way through grade school, high school, and now college, with his buds Jeff (Michael Maronna) and Sam (Jason Segel). They go beyond the usual call of duty, setting up intricate, fool-proof plans on how to get themselves to succeed and help their close friends as well. Apparently, it takes less time to devise schemes than it does to actually study. Moreover, they get caught cheating by Ethan (Jason Schwartzman), a weird student obsessed with Angela (Jaime King), a beautiful girl who attends the same college. Ethan blackmails the three guys behind it and tells them he will get them expelled if they don't set him up with Angela. But of course, when Dave tries, Angela winds up falling for him, leaving Ethan enraged and seriously jealous.
It was just a few months ago I watched Wes Anderson's Rushmore, a film I found difficult to grasp, marginally entertaining, and surprisingly cold to the audience. One of the issues I had was with Jason Schwartzman's Max, who was pompous and self-indulgent in his approach through life. I admired Schwartzman's acting, but that was the extent of that, since I found his character frustrating to say the least, yet after seeing Ethan, I regard Max as a more attractive character to say the least. Here is a deeply depraved character - less a villain and more mentally unstable, as he is obsessed about stealing things of Angela's, such as her underwear, clothes, bracelets, etc. He even goes as far as to collect single-strands of her hair to knot them into a small doll. Consider a scene where her picks up her stray hair, anxiously inhales its aroma, and states how she is using a new shampoo. One, how much scent can be in one strand of hair, but is this a scene we're supposed to laugh at? I cringed and I cringed hard.
And so the mood was set for Slackers, which shockingly doesn't falter because of its reliance on gross-out humor, but reliance on situations that aren't funny, characters that aren't interesting, and lame, uninspired comedic drudgery. Think about a film like American Pie - one of the many ribald comedies this one so desperately wants to be - and think about what made it funny and enjoyable. I hope you recalled the beautifully imperfect, naive characters we watched grow into beautifully imperfect, naive adults, or the fact that there we so many characters it was difficult to choose who was more likable. Here, the one-dimensionality of the cast is stunningly uninteresting, and even worse, stop and think about the characters we're for; loud, obnoxious, stereotypical, cheating idiots. If the aforementioned content wasn't enough to turn you off, try imagining rooting for that one schmuck you know who cheats and does his work unethically. You wouldn't root for him/her at work - why would you in a movie?
Starring: Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, Jaime King, Michael Maronna, Jason Segel, and Laura Prepon. Directed by: Dewey Nicks.
Slackers is the kind of "late-night comedy" that doesn't even benefit from being shown after 11:00pm. I doubt assistance of alcohol or another abused drug would make it much funnier either. The film victimizes a lot of great actors to its dirty-minded, juvenile humor that is void of any heart or wit. When That 70's Show's Laura Prepon's time to shine involves her fiercely masturbating on the couch while a character scrounges through her roommates' things, you know you've hit a new-low.
That's what Slackers is; a series of "new-lows" haphazardly jammed into a collage of skits attempting to pass as an eighty-six minute film. Certain comedies can get by with that sort of style (The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World achieved tremendous heights on that basis), but the succeeding ones boast more than a talent for spitball-comedy. In addition to that talent, they could give us characters we like, one-liners we could remember, and an inspired cast. Slackers has characters that would be indescribably lucky to serve Jake and Elwood or Wayne and Garth dinner.
The plot: Dave (Devon Sawa) has cheated his way through grade school, high school, and now college, with his buds Jeff (Michael Maronna) and Sam (Jason Segel). They go beyond the usual call of duty, setting up intricate, fool-proof plans on how to get themselves to succeed and help their close friends as well. Apparently, it takes less time to devise schemes than it does to actually study. Moreover, they get caught cheating by Ethan (Jason Schwartzman), a weird student obsessed with Angela (Jaime King), a beautiful girl who attends the same college. Ethan blackmails the three guys behind it and tells them he will get them expelled if they don't set him up with Angela. But of course, when Dave tries, Angela winds up falling for him, leaving Ethan enraged and seriously jealous.
It was just a few months ago I watched Wes Anderson's Rushmore, a film I found difficult to grasp, marginally entertaining, and surprisingly cold to the audience. One of the issues I had was with Jason Schwartzman's Max, who was pompous and self-indulgent in his approach through life. I admired Schwartzman's acting, but that was the extent of that, since I found his character frustrating to say the least, yet after seeing Ethan, I regard Max as a more attractive character to say the least. Here is a deeply depraved character - less a villain and more mentally unstable, as he is obsessed about stealing things of Angela's, such as her underwear, clothes, bracelets, etc. He even goes as far as to collect single-strands of her hair to knot them into a small doll. Consider a scene where her picks up her stray hair, anxiously inhales its aroma, and states how she is using a new shampoo. One, how much scent can be in one strand of hair, but is this a scene we're supposed to laugh at? I cringed and I cringed hard.
And so the mood was set for Slackers, which shockingly doesn't falter because of its reliance on gross-out humor, but reliance on situations that aren't funny, characters that aren't interesting, and lame, uninspired comedic drudgery. Think about a film like American Pie - one of the many ribald comedies this one so desperately wants to be - and think about what made it funny and enjoyable. I hope you recalled the beautifully imperfect, naive characters we watched grow into beautifully imperfect, naive adults, or the fact that there we so many characters it was difficult to choose who was more likable. Here, the one-dimensionality of the cast is stunningly uninteresting, and even worse, stop and think about the characters we're for; loud, obnoxious, stereotypical, cheating idiots. If the aforementioned content wasn't enough to turn you off, try imagining rooting for that one schmuck you know who cheats and does his work unethically. You wouldn't root for him/her at work - why would you in a movie?
Starring: Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, Jaime King, Michael Maronna, Jason Segel, and Laura Prepon. Directed by: Dewey Nicks.