Reality Bites (1994)

Very best movie i ever watch

Sick Product of a Sick System

Great Film overall

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Being that I was seventeen and in my twilight years in high school, I watch "Reality Bites" as a friendly wake-up call to the stuff that's going to affect me in the years ahead. Prior to this movie, ambition was running through my veins as fear and doubt about my future was in tow. As the days of graduation was upon me, I knew I needed some movie that might inspire me to be the very best I could be in whatever endeavours that comes upon me. The scene that hit me the most was when aspiring filmmaker Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) thought that she had her life mapped out by the time she was 23, while her floundering but compassionate boyfriend Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke) consoles to her sentiments by saying in a nutshell that you should just be yourself at 23. Those words were both poetic and hypnotic.We're first introduced to Leliana, Troy, Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo) and Sammy Gray (Steve Zahn) chilling on a rooftop in downtown Houston, Texas, celebrating with a few beers after graduating from college, while Alice Cooper's classic rocker "School's Out For Summer" is heard in the background. Leliana decides the perfect time to capture the four on film to discuss their plans for the future. Sammy just wants to find a career, Vickie who works at the Gap just wants to memorize her social security number at full speed and Troy who's been working minimum wage jobs is a few credits short of obtaining his philosophy degree doesn't feel the necessity of finishing it off.From the camerawork of Leliana's opaque surroundings, the characters go on their journeys to explore the many avenues of post-graduate life as the film takes off from there. Troy gets a job at a convenience store only to get fired shortly after stealing a candy bar. He eventually moves into the Maxi Pad with Leliana and Vickie with the sexual urges between Leliana and Troy becoming more prominent while sharing moments of bickering and flirting. Leliana's filming career gets a head-start when she gets hired by an executive named Michael Grates (Ben Stiller) who works at a MTV like station.Leliana gets fired from her job as a production assistant for feeding subjective cue cards to her boss which then finds the young hopeful's dream severely crushed as she's sulking on the living room couch and having phone charges of $300 for phoning a psychic. At this time I was hoping her external problems can be rejuvenated with a metaphoric angel coming her way to deliver the message of hope. Well that metaphoric angel was Michael as he showed her documentary to the upper echelons of his network and they want to buy the footage.Excited, she attends the premiere of her documentary only to be shocked that it had been tweaked from a film about the struggling life of Generation X to a Reality Show based program with her friends being reduced to individual segments of their lives, from the apathetic rebel, to the sex-crazed party girl, the ambitious overachiever to the token gay guy. Lelaina cries her way home only to find Troy alone in the apartment. Their on-again off again relationship finally settles and they end up sleeping with each other.The romantic pity sex these two friends encounter is summed up with a series of tranquil moments of peace and serenity. But then out of left field, Troy leaves her which causes a bit of a rift as she was trying to get her life back together again. After a nasty breakup, Troy goes back to Chicago to visit his dying father which Lelaina didn't know. He eventually returned to her yard a she was trying to find him in hopes to reconcile their friendship.The thing about "Reality Bites" that strikes me harder than a thunderbolt, is that not all broken relationships can be repaired. After an abrupt breakup, my girlfriend moved away and we lost contact forever without a reason or explanation. Not that I wouldn't be heartbroken if an explanation or a Dear John letter would be sufficient, but it would have some disclosure and I would move forward with my life. At least Troy did make amends with Lelaina and came back into her life.What sickens me the most is that why was Troy the inevitable puzzle piece for Lelaina? I'm okay with the happy ending and all sure and the message of love being the glue to moments of insecurity and to take the important stuff of where we go from here. But it's still to me just a lot of hyperbole to the max. My envy for Lelaina made me wish our worlds were reversed. Troy didn't hold up to his compromises, only time will tell. Don't expect his car to pull up on your driveway.

Reality Bites is basically a case of putting a trendy patina on a shopworn romantic comedy cliché. The film is something of a paradox; it's specifically about the reality of finding a job and love in an unforgiving world, and tries to spell out, in pretty big letters, that people in the nineties had "issues" to deal with. But therein lies the films problem - its sheer glibness; serious issues like job globalization or the advent of AIDS appear as snapshots, almost reduced to an exercise in style. In numerous shots, the "real" characters in the film represent youth culture as its referenced in rock videos and the grungy, black and white magazine ads of its day.Troy, the main love interest in the story, is a composite of the dude from the Replacements and some 90's retro fashion insert. Additionally, Troy is a wellspring of political and philosophical quips about the surrounding world, ultimately cynical in tone and indifferent to the ideal of success or suburban security. The "other guy" in the movie is sort of a TV exec yuppie, likable enough but not really cool at all and somewhat self regarding and out-of-touch. (Maybe a tad "eighties", as well. The biggest crime in this movie would be to openly admit liking Billy Idol.)The comedy/drama/romance focus of the picture is REALLY about media grad Lelaina Pierce tryna find "true love" and so she must choose between these two male stereotypes. The curious feeling of gender and class manipulation is palpable, if only because the filmmakers are interested in selling an age-old love triangle convention and also because of the tendency to reduce the nineties Gen-X/grunge era to a type. A handful of good dramatic conflict scenes help prop the vehicle up, so to speak, also a film soundtrack was marketed around the same time.

-- SPOILER -- When Lelaine comes back angry and disappointed from the "premier" of her show and Troy declares his love and they have sex, I had an uneasy feeling, the scene is presented as romantic with romantic lighting, romantic guitar, etc. (and I bet many people probably taught "how sweet"), but basically this is a scene where a person in a momentary state of weakness is emotionally pushed to do something.Now I don't say this scene depicts a full fledge SA, neither that the Troy character is "bad" (you don't have to have "bad" intentions to do regrettable things), nor that this kind of situation is not realistic (cause it is)... what bothered me the most I think was the choice of music, it should probably have been more dissonant, not some mellow mushy guitar.am I the only one ill-at-ease with this scene? Sorry for any misspell, English is my second language.

When I have overviews being written about Ben Stiller in various magazines and TV programs,they all mention how he first started out in indie films,before he got discovered by a more "mainstream" audience.After having a look at the back cover,and seeing the very impressive cast listings,I was looking forward to an amazing laugh- riot.Instead,I found the film to be shockingly light on laughs of any kind.The plot:A group of Generation X students graduate from college,and realise the it is time that they all enter the real world,and look for a real job.One of them (Celaina Pierce)has been making a documentary film about her friends,whilst she has been stuck at being an assistant to a TV chat-show host,that cant stand her.Suddenly,a sign of hope appears,when a very trendy music TV producer (Michael Grates) crashes into her car!.Due to how genuinely apologetic Michael seems to be (and also due to him being a producer)Ceclaina shows him the documentary that she has been making.Whilst this should be the first step to a clear path to stardom for Celaina,she sadly,has to decide if she wants to enter the "sell-out mainstream" world,or if she should stick to her Gen X friends.Which include her friend Troy,who is trying to figure out what his true feelings are for her...View on the film:For a film that has such a craving to be seen as part of the early to mid nineties alternative scene,it just feels completely artificial and hollow.One of the things that surprised me was,that apart from a handful of some very good tracks,the film completely skips over making any references to the excellent films,music and novels of the era.Whilst all of the strong cast give acceptable performances,they are sadly let down by the terrible screenplay by Helen Childres.Which includes very badly-written sub-story lines for Celainas friends (a story line involving Janeane "Larry Sanders" Garofalo,waiting for results on being diagnosed with AIDS,is written as such a minor thing,that it should have been cut out at the earliest stages of the screenplay.)The main romance in the film between Celaina and Troy completely crumbles,due to there hardly being any chemistry between them,and also because Troy is a very nasty egotistical bully threw out the whole film.Final view on the film:A strong cast,let down by a very badly written,completely unfunny screenplay.