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Slackers
2002 - R - 86 Mins.
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| Director: Dewey Nicks | | Producer: Erik Feig | | Written By: David H. Steinburg | | Starring: Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, Michael C. Maronna, James King (as Jaime King), Laura Prepon |
| Review by: John Ulmer |
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I think we can all agree unanimously that teen films are getting worse and worse every year. John Hughes' teen flicks from the 1980s were very special,because they showed "real" teens in "real" situations, and not the stereotypical figures present in all teen films these days. "Not Another
Teen Movie" may not have been a great flick, but at least it had the courage to try and spoof all the other films from its genre - "Slackers" doesn't; it
just becomes another teen flick.
Here's what we've got: The Three Cool Guys (one of which is an Ugly Cool Guy who should be a Dork) on Campus get blackmailed by The Geek, who wants The Hot Girl, who is interested in The Head Cool Guy, who tries to get The Geek hooked up with her, but ends up falling in love with The Hot Girl. The Other Two Cool Guys get hooked up with other Ugly Girls, and The Geek remains a geek. There always has to be a small band of cool guys breezing past school, there always has to be a geek, there always has to be a pretty girl, and there always has to be the girl everyone thought they wanted but found out they didn't after all.
"Slackers" is about The Three Cool Guys (including "Night of the Twisters's" Devon Sawa) who are happily cheating their way through college, until The Geek ("Rushmore's" Jason Schwartzman) sees them cheating and blackmails them. He wants to get hooked up with The Hot Girl in school, but as I said before, The Hot Girl is interested in The Head Cool Guy, and so when The Geek finds out what's going down he gets mad.
This film is so basic it hurts, but even when you think it can't get more basic...it does. The director, Dewey Nicks, has got to be one of the most untalented slackers (har-har) to ever film a movie. Every scene is not only handled with minimum care, preperation and outcome, but shots are suddenly split in between other shots, and imaginations are put into sudden shots. Maybe one time is original, the fiftieth time it gets annoying. It's like a really bad music video that just won't stop playing. Among these very badly
cut scenes is one where Jason Schwartzman is talking to two girls and suddenly imagines them licking him all over, then it cuts back to them
talking, then licking. Another is when The Three Cool Guys start imagining themselves bicycling and shooting "Star Wars" guns and being chained to a bed by a transvestite. That didn't make sense, did it? No. It doesn't when it suddenly appears in the film, either.
I saw Devon Sawa's first breakthrough role, TV's "Night of the Twisters," and I then saw him in "Wild America." What has happened to him since? "Idle Hands" and "Final Destination" and "Extreme Ops" is what, and honestly I
don't think I hear many people talk about him at all. I blame it on "Slackers"; right as his career as an actor started to take off he got stuck in the middle of this wretched film. Eh, I never really liked him anyway.
I do, however, like Jason Schwartzman, who showed some real talent in "Rushmore," which was a bit of a teen movie but had more originality, flare and humor than this film. (It also starred Bill Murray.) "Slackers" has made me lose interest in Schwartzman, because I cannot honestly understand why a young man with so much talent would choose this script over all the others he could have had at this point in his career.
"Slackers" has made me lose respect for everyone involved in the project. If you like any of the actors involved in this horrible production classified as film, I suggest you stay away from it.
(P.S. - Notice the unbilled cameo from Cameron Diaz in the film.)
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