Rent Reality Bites (1994)

Gap-Core Angst and a Questionable Soundtrack - Reality Bites review by griggs

Graduation caps fly, and the soundtrack drops Gary Glitter — an instant wince. From there it’s glossy ’90s: Gap shifts, coffee-shop hangs, friends in the same room. I miss the clothes; I don’t miss the certainty.

It plays like an American cousin to This Life: chatty, aspirational, and quietly rattled. I'm Gen X at the tail end, so it never mirrored my twenties; it pitched them. The film also treats Vickie's sexual confidence like a hazard sign, capped off with an HIV scare that screams early-90s anxiety.

When it’s good, it nails the post-uni fog: job dread, relationship hedging, everyone auditioning for adulthood. Ryder makes Lelaina sharp and sincerely irritating, especially once her documentary gets bought and re-cut into someone else’s rhythm. Hawke’s Troy is charisma in a leather jacket — and still a thin bet, which makes the final swoon feel oddly forgiving.

Much Logo - Reality Bites review by Steve

Lifestyle comedy/drama/romance about new graduates looking for meaningful relationships and a way into employment without selling out. It's a story retold for every generation, but this gained impetus because it was released shortly after the idea of a post-boomer cohort with shared experiences and values became news, in this case generation x.

This theory actually comes from advertising, which is ironic as these 20-something Texans claim to be pushing against commercialism, while exclusively buying high street brands. Anyway, their experiences don't differ much from now, except there's no internet. So Winona Ryder records her slacker contemporaries on video, and promotes the content.

Yes, there's Winona, and how '90s is that!? Ethan Hawke co-stars as an edgy rock and roller/English grad, who is her best friend from college... Ben Stiller completes the triangle as a youth tv freelance who just doesn't get the new counterculture and may be a yuppie anyway... It's an ensemble but Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn barely survive the edit.

Inevitably there's a soundtrack of college radio muzak suitable for playing in coffee chains. And this touches on why it feels hard to love; for all the hip no-logo posturing, it's full of product placement. There's no opinion on stuff that actually turned out to matter, like climate. It's awfully superficial, but may convey nostalgia if this was your go around.