SubUrbia

I remember not relating to any of these characters because my life was going to go somewhere. Now I'm terrified to re watch it.

Should be out on DVD!

I understand why people hate this film--there are no clear protagonists or antagonists. Each character is terribly flawed, yet they all have significant thematic value. That dissonance can be a difficult thing for people to enjoy. I get it. People want clear heroes and villains. Like many Linklater films, it's not plot-driven, but certainly not without substance. Linklater's smoothest, most tranquil film, perfectly accentuated by a stellar soundtrack, with one of the best casts ever ensembled.

Linklater was obviously very interested in portraying disillusioned, alienated youth at this point in his career. And he was very skilled at it, as evidenced by Slacker and Dazed and Confused. And that's part of the problem with this film - it's been done before, by him and other filmmakers, and it's been done better. There were moments of this I liked, but overall, I didn't really like the characters and it just didn't have a strong effect on me one way or the other.

Linklater's darkest film, and unfortunately one of his worst. The style of his early work is there; it follows tenets of Aristotelian unity and applies them to somewhat realistic depictions of youth culture. In prior works like Slacker and Dazed and Confused, the aimless quality of this youthful era is not judged, but simultaneously mocked and praised. With SubUrbia, it's just ugly, thankless, and portrayed in such a polar extreme that it fails to be that interesting.

I like these type of movies - teenagers hanging around and not doing much but getting in trouble in supermarkets. This one has some good qualities, but Linklater tries to inject too much obvious profundity in the characters instead of just letting them be themselves and as a result it often comes off as stilted and pretentious.

Great little film a la Breakfast Club

It is of its time, and Bogosian's dialogue can seem forced, but it does manage to capture something of the mood of its time, which is a bleak kind of teen angst that was very palpable in the west. It was both a depressingly real and manufactured phenomenon that was quickly hijacked by corporate forces. Linklater's engagement of this subject was undoubtedly sincere, and the performances are uniformly good, especially in scenes where resentment hammers home uncomfortable truths.

It's the same psychbabble bullshit that Linklater got stoned college freshmen excited about in Waking Life except with each character's perspective from angles you/Linklater only half agree with, the other half being worthless palabre from suburban characters invented from stereotypes. The plot is pointedly nonexistent and ends on a cowardly cliffhanger. Compliments: it predates Garden State with its (good but) overbearing alternative soundtrack and Zahn's braindeadedness is fun.

Why is it so difficult to make a convincing movie from a play? Hardly anyone seems to be able to manage it, and this one is, sadly, not a success story. Still, some good moments (most of them involving Parker Posey), some good lines, but the only person in the whole flick that talks any sort of sense is the convenience store owner. Richard Linklater is much better with his own material.

Thelifepurposestuffgetskindaannoying-VSartistwascooler+Dontcareaboutresultdoanythingnofear+friendkindarandomlykillinggirlisweirdlol+wellthatdidnthappenlol+othergirlOD

Felt like a new generation version of Dazed and Confused but instead of the upbeat feel that Dazed has, this feels considerably down almost the entire time and bleak. Still, it paints a great picture of what it's like to grow up in suburbia, bored and always talking about how you'll get out but rarely actually move on it, and always with brooding expired teen angst

64.67.

So very 90's! And so obviously an adaptation of a play. A play about teenagers written by grownups, because there are no way teenagers sees their angst this way. Each character is a general cut-out for kids to identify with. Jeff's me. Silly film, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Decent film.

Naked Giovanni Ribisi. Need I say more?

Along with dramatic problems that originate in the expository nature of the play, this smells of a cautionary tale, which by its nature is the opposite of the camaraderie Linklater generally seeks.

Keep the trouser snake in its trousers, Ribisi...

An enjoyable movie but not as good as it could have been, it really falls short becuase the ending.

So weird that Linklater did this fresh off two stone cold classics ("Dazed and Confused" and "Before Sunrise"). A quick IMDB check reveals that he wrote both "Dazed" and "Sunrise" (as well as "Slacker") so maybe he just had trouble adapting someone else's work? As a huge admirer of Linklater's best stuff, yeah, we'll go with that. Because this does not feel, look or sound much like anything I've come to expect from him. A big misfire for sure, but he'd obviously right the ship in time.