KICKING AND SCREAMING
A film review by Nicholas Parrott
Copyright 1995 Nicholas Parrott
ABERYSTWYTH FILM FESTIVAL Noam Baumbach. USA, 1995 Commodore Cinema Monday 13/11/95
KICKING AND SCREAMING is one of the many new movies being shown at this years film festival. It played to a surprisingly packed house at the Commodore. But then it does deal with a theme that many at Aberystwyth will find familiar.
A bunch of guys decide to stay around college after graduating. They hang out in bars and chase freshers, but these are the occasional highlights of an otherwise boring existence. Shortly they find their friendships starting to fracture as frustration and personal jealousies set in. Wannabe writer Grover (Josh Hamilton) is plagued by memories of his girlfriend (Olivia D'abo) who left for Prague straight after graduation. His flashbacks of that romance are a recurrent theme of good times lost. His inability to reply to her messages on his answerphone symbolic of his lack of direction. Skippy (Jason Wiles) re-enrolls in classes and tries to keep his relationship with the flighty Miami (Parker Posey) alive. While Otis (Carlos Jascott), the lovable buffoon, tries hard to adjust to his new role, applying to Graduate School but ending up working in a video store. Role model to them all is the philosophising Chet (Eric Stolz), bar steward and eternal student, now in his tenth year at college.
KICKING AND SCREAMING is an enjoyable movie, but it does lack some punch. The end is inconclusive as the characters start to drift away. Otis eventually flies back home. His departure inspires Grover to fly to Prague to see Jane, but he gets grounded because he doesn't have a passport. As in real life the characters just start to drift apart, not necessarily in pursuit of something new but because they know they have climb out of the hole they have dug for themselves. Despite a limp ending the film is an impressive debut for writer and director Noam Baumbach and an wonderful vehicle for a clutch of gifted young actors.
-- Nick Parrott 14/11/95
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