REALITY BITES
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 5.5
Date Released: 2/18/94 Running Length: 1:39 Rated: PG-13 (Language, sex)
Starring: Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn,
Ben Stiller
Director: Ben Stiller
Producers: Danny DeVito and Michael Shamberg
Screenplay: Helen Childress
Music: Karl Wallinger
Released by Universal Pictures
Take a typical romantic comedy, add a dash of Cameron Crow's SINGLES, and top it off with a little WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, and you get REALITY BITES, Ben Stiller's feature film debut, and the movie that draws out the most memorable performance from Winona Ryder since HEATHERS (THE AGE OF INNOCENCE not excepted).
Following college graduation, four close friends--Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder), Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke), Vicki Miner (Janeane Garofalo), and Sammy Gray (Steve Zahn)--are still hanging out with each other. In fact, after Troy loses his job and moves in with Lelaina and Vicki, three of them are living together. It's life without a direction, however. Vicki is working at the Gap, Troy is unemployed after being fired from his twelfth job, and Lelaina is on the slow track working for a local morning television show. Their personal lives are no less settled, with the promiscuous Vicki obsessed with getting AIDS, and Lelaina trying to choose romantically between best friend Troy and an MTV-type station manager yuppie named Michael Grates (Ben Stiller).
REALITY BITES starts with a lot of promise, but it doesn't take long for its freshness to wear thin. Struggling for the feel of SINGLES, the film matches neither the quirkiness nor the honest insight of the 1992 feature. It doesn't take long for the central romantic conflict to become established, and from then to the conclusion, REALITY BITES follows a number of standard formulas.
The characters are all types, with little or no depth beyond the expected. This is true not only of the central figures, but the supporting ones as well. It becomes tiresome after a while to continually make accurate predictions of what each character is going to do.
Commercialism runs rampant, as well. Some of the product placements are grossly obvious (so obvious that I'm willing to give director Ben Stiller the benefit of the doubt and wonder if he isn't satirizing their use in other movies), and the soundtrack has all the marks of something designed to sell CDs and tapes. At least when Troy is required to sing, it's actually Ethan Hawke dubbing the vocals.
There are some clever moments, the best of which are the satires of MTV- type "cutting edge" programming. Also enjoyable is John Mahoney as a Phil Donahue-like morning talk show host who's affable in front of the camera, but nasty offstage.
Winona Ryder turns in a strong performance as Lelaina, but she is often upstaged by Janeane Garofalo, who has all the best one-liners. Both work well together, and their impromptu dance to "My Sharona" (shown in all the commercials) is one of REALITY BITES' silliest highlights.
Would that the chemistry between Ms. Ryder and her male co-stars was as strong. There are no sparks between her and Ethan Hawke or Ben Stiller. This makes it difficult to care about the central romance. Also, from the beginning, there's never really any doubt about who Lelaina is going to end up with.
Frankly, I expected more from REALITY BITES. It's certainly a watchable film, but it lacks any semblance of originality. Beneath a thin veneer of style, all the old cliches and formulas of typical romantic comedies lie buried. A number of people, especially fans of Ms. Ryder, will be delighted by this film, but I can't add my voice to their acclaim. REALITY BITES is far too ordinary.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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