Brilliant but...


...way too off-kilter and post-modern to appeal to many people right now. Future cult-classic status is more-or-less guaranteed though. In some ways it reminded me of watching Rushmore way back in '98 (damn! that's almost 15 years ago!)...

I loved how this worked as a sharp satire on modern America's current tendency to pseudo-intellectualise everything, verbalise it via a mangled semantic hybrid of self-help speak and business lingo and then fire the results through a smug filter of infantile passive-aggressive relativism to create a cultural environment in which everyone's opinion is equally valid and, by extension, completely worthless at the same time.

It's also a slyly funny and often purposefully silly deconstruction of the teen/college drama kicking seven shades out of almost every movie college cliche in the book: all the male characters are either neanderthal frat boys, "playboy operator types", untrustworthy 'intellectual' euros or ineffectual token blacks; the relentless relationship switch-backs; suicides; on-the-nose and lightly worn literary nods...

And of course, Violet's right; if all you wanna do is make a lot of people happy you could do a lot worse than create an international dance craze...

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Thank you! You helped me like this movie more.

:)

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Hey, glad to be of assistance :)

I thought it was a funny, thought provoking and highly original film that'll no doubt reveal more of itself to me when I get around to giving it a re-watch sometime as I definitely don't completely 'get it' just yet.

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Yeah, I'll definitely be re-watching it myself. I tend to enjoy things more the second time around anyway.

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Me too. I could only enjoy this one after I let go of my "demands" that it be better than it is. Reminded me first of Clueless -- Violet as Cher, Lily as her acolyte -- or to go further back, of Emma. (The re-use of the name Frank as in Frank Churchill also reminded me of Emma.) Someone else noted its resemblance to Moonrise Kingdom, which I also see.

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You were prophetic to spot a natural affinity to Jane Austen there.

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The script was funny, but I found myself having to try to tune out how terrible the delivery was to begin to appreciate the movie. Good lord, the acting was terrible. Horrifically, terribly awful. I don't know where Stillman found these people.

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I hate to disagree, but I found the delivery impeccable. Perhaps the men were a little too dumb, but the four roommates got it just right. The intonation patterns had that arch snottiness and inflection captured perfectly. The understated deadpan delivery is the hallmark of the arrogantly certain. Experience teaches doubt; these naive (what we used to call pseudos)poseurs had no doubts whatsoever.

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Dondi0! I found you from the field of dreams forum, this seems like the type of movie a cool, hip guy like you would like.

"sharp satire on modern America's current tendency to pseudo-intellectualise everything"
Lol, this is just too much! Oh, Dondi0, I can't...I just can't, it's too easy...


Double Hawk! "I'm awkward"

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"Nirvana Rulz!"
Awesome.

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Seemed to peg it well. Overall to me this movie was a bit like real life, put through a major sarcasm filter translator thing. It's like Alex Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place made a movie.


T: @RaysPoet

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[deleted]

Oh bollocks! All that caffeine i had last night was a waste. I slept through the movie.

Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves parade.

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