SUBURBIA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
"What are you doing now?" asks spaced out Buff (Steve Zahn) as he hangs out one night outside the laundromat. "I don't know," replies his equally dazed friend Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey). "You mean like now? Like right now? Waiting."
The recent high school graduates in Burnfield are not having a good time. Director Richard Linklater's marvelous picture BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) was on my best of the year list in 1995. Like it, his new film SUBURBIA chronicles one night in the lives of its young characters.
Most of the film takes place outside the Circle A convenience store where the young people in the story hang out to cuss and to get drunk with their friends. One of their sports is to taunt the young man, Nazeer (Ajay Naidu), who owns the store since he is a Pakistani. Tim (Nicky Katt) is the chief trouble maker and hurls racial epithets at Nazeer for coming to this country. Everyone in the show, including Nazeer, is about twenty-years old. Nazeer has worked his way up and has two years left before his gets his engineering degree. He tries in vain to tell the other young people how they are wasting their lives.
One woman with multicolor, porcupine hair, Sooze (Amie Carey), is a painter and a performance artist. She displays her "talent" to the group. She sings and tap dances a foul mouthed routine full of adolescent angst, which she calls the "Burger Manifesto, Part I." She says it is about racism, sexism and environmentalism. Her friend claims that Sooze has never known any black people. Racking her brain, Sooze is finally able to think one.
The philosopher of the group is Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi). He claims empathy for the oppressed, but Sooze laughs this off with, "you've taken one night course about Nicaragua at a community college."
In a show that has no narrative drive, the main event of the evening occurs when their high school buddy Pony (Jayce Bartok) comes back in his limo. He had a hit record a year ago, and now he is a rock star. He brings along his mentor, Erica (Parker Posey). Pony and Erica hang out with the rest of the crew. Pony agrees to sing his latest song. Prophetically, it starts, "I sound like an idiot." Most of the old gang resents Pony's success. "I don't need a limousine to know who I am," says Jeff. "At least I know I don't know."
The script of SUBURBIA by Eric Bogosian (TALK RADIO) is based on his 1994 play of the same name. Much of the dialog rings true, and yet the characters he creates are not ones you would want to spend ten minutes with, much less two hours. Only Nazeer is a sympathetic character. Most of the characters Bogosian concocts are cliches. Jeff, for example, makes a wide variety of crude sexual gestures and lies about his sexual escapades to his buddies.
Since the characters are close to parody, the story might have been better if it had abandoned its pseudo-realism. On the other hand, many of the characters are so pathetic, the show could have been recast into a tragedy. As presented, it is a comedy that is sometimes funny and sometimes insightful, but mainly tedious.
Even if the acting is mediocre, the quality of the directing by Richard Linklater comes through. I think he did as much as he could to make the story come alive.
After the show meanders for about two hours, Bogosian throws in its only creative tension with an ending out of left field. The ending is manipulative, but at least it signaled that my time with these people was finally over. I wish Nazeer well in his career as an engineer. He tells us that he is planning on leaving Burnfield when he graduates. Don't change your mind Nazeer.
SUBURBIA runs way too long at 2:00. It is rated R for alcohol abuse by underage drinkers, sexual references, strong language, and brief male frontal nudity. Teenagers will probably like the show and they and people in their twenties are probably the intended audience. Still, I do not think the film is acceptable for teens unless they are quite mature. Although I had several good laughs, more often I was bored so I give the film thumbs down and **.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: February 10, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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