REALITY BITES
A film review by Vijay Ramanujan
Copyright 1994 Vijay Ramanujan
Cast: Winona Ryder (Lelaina); Janeane Garofalo (Vickie); Ethan Hawke (Troy); Ben Stiller (Mike).
This movie can really be broken down into two parts. The first half was an humorous, intelligent story of one woman's job and man troubles shortly after graduation. The second half was a depressingly realistic look at what makes these people tick. I found myself wondering whether my generation is really as f-ed up as we appear in this movie.
The first half tells the story, not only of Lelaina, but of the people she lives with and the people she hangs out with. There is her roommate, and soon to be GAP manager, Vickie, who has slept with sixty-six men, whose names she can't all remember. But she does have an knack for killer one-liners. There is their gay "permanent resident" who is an underwritten character. He doesn't do much except set up Vickie's jokes. And then there is the obnoxious temporary roommate, Troy, who does nothing but hang around the house and insult everyone around him. But he saves his meanest for Lelaina, and by that we are supposed to conclude that he loves her.
Before the "cliche" police come out in full force, it should be said that this breaks the standard lines in more way than one. First of all, these two aren't enemies. They have even slept together once, although Lelaina claims she was drunk at the time. Second, they establish very early that they are attracted to each other. The question is not whether they are willing to admit it, as is normal, but more of whether she can do better than him.
Now, without going into detail, the second half of the movie was almost too realistic. It shows a group of people who have no sense of direction, living one dimensional lives, if that. They are not searching for salvation, they are merely trying to survive. There is no feeling that the conclusion is final, or that the characters will be happy for ever after.
This movie does invite criticism, some warranted and some not. First, the warranted. It does seem unrealistic that a class valedictorian would have difficulty with addition (as Lelaina does--costing her a job opportunity) or would be unable to define irony. The movie would have been better had they let Lelaina be a good, but not great student. And the unwarranted intrusion of rich parents really sapped some of her futility. She should have been drawn more generically.
The unfair criticism, as I see it, is this. There is the usual backlash against happy endings, and complaints that Lelaina chooses the wrong man. It seems to me that the two complaints are contradictory. As for the second, it is a double standard, that we want reality, but we also want her to be happy. Sometimes people do pick the wrong partner. Her decision is predictable because it is in keeping with her character. The other criticism, that the movie failed to be fresh after a while, while true, is not as much a criticism as a comment of the flow of the movie. There were two jobless characters, one who thought she was dying of AIDS and one who was kicked out of his house. Fresh might have been the wrong mood for the movie to take.
So, overall 3.5*/4 (An eye opener for anyone who thought John Hughes was realistic)
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