Reality Bites (Special Edition)
10th Anniversary Edition
Life is always funnier when it happens to someone else.
Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn star in this smart and insightful comedy that looks at life, love and the pursuit of gainful employment.
This irreverent portrayal of the harsh realities of life after college captures the misadventures of Lelaina (Ryder), an ambitious TV production assistant, and her relationships with her sarcastic roommate, Vickie (Garofalo), friends Sammy (Zahn) and Troy (Hawke), and an ambitious video executive, Michael (Stiller). Now, in its 10th anniversary, this is truly a comedic and cultural touchstone that encapsulates an era like no other.
Member Reviews
Gets better with time - maebers
I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and I enjoy it more with each viewing. It's routinely panned for reasons that I really can't comprehend. It's witty, well-acted, quickly paced. I notice that people don't talk as badly about it anymore. I think it's because "Reality Bites" will be one of the films that future generations will look back on to know a little bit about this time.has its charms - clauditorium
When I first saw this, I was about the same age as the main characters. That probably explains why I liked it so much. And why, about thirteen years later, I relate more to the adults. This turns out to be a bit of a handicap, because the movie paints them as caricatures. Reality Bites still has its charms, though. The actors inhabit their characters well. Janeane Garofalo's dry sense of humour never gets old. Ben Stiller hadn't yet begun starring in unfunny blockbuster comedies, and he actually plays a real person here. And the script does contain a few truths about modern post-graduate malaise, and one painfully accurate jab at MTV. On the downside, it also contains one of those cliché "spontaneous joyous dancing" scenes (in this case set to "My Sharona").A Time Capsule View of The 90's - JasonTHX
The real Irony for me of this seminal portrait of the 90's was that "Reality Bites" was released almost exactly to the day that Kurt Cobain - the poster boy for grunge, slackerdom
was found dead, this movie celebrated that new form of counter-culture without shame. Ah, if Kurt had only lived to watch "Reality Bites" I'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of it. Maybe he wouldn' have felt so alone.
Myself , I was the perfect age for this movie (19 years old) in 94, and reveled in it's depiction of aimless, pop-culture obsessed, plaid shirt, greasy-haired, ratty, chain smoking, coffee drinking, pill taking, gap buying, MTV viewing college grads facing life and independence for the first time. From a winning script by Helen Childress (what happned to her?) and directed by first-time director Ben Stiller "Reality Bites" nails what it was like to be alive and young at that point in time.
Stiller Assembles many of his "Ben Stiller Show" former cast mates - most notably Janeane Garofalo as Vicki - a 70's obssesed, seriel sleeper-with-guys, Gap manager who steals the Movie. Andy Dick shows up in a cameo (Where was Bob Oedenkirk?) that's amusing. Winona Ryder - engenue of the 90's herself is perfect, charming and lovable as Lelaina, young-working intern caught in a love triangle between button-downed MTV-like exec Michael and Dwyer, pot-smoking, philosophising matyr of slacker-dom. The Cast works really well and is also the first role for Steve Zahn and in a cameo Renee Zellweger.
"Reality Bites" is a perfect movie for it's time. Some movies are like that. Perfect for the time they are released in. The 1980's had "The Big Chill" this decade has "Mean Girls" but the 90's had "Reality Bites".
I'd love a sequel just to see what these characters are like. If they became I-Phone, commerce-driven, Pinkberry drinking, Prius Driving adults. But as it is these characters are a true portrait of the 90's.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Gets better with time - maebers
I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and I enjoy it more with each viewing. It's routinely panned for reasons that I really can't comprehend. It's witty, well-acted, quickly paced. I notice that people don't talk as badly about it anymore. I think it's ...has its charms - clauditorium
When I first saw this, I was about the same age as the main characters. That probably explains why I liked it so much. And why, about thirteen years later, I relate more to the adults. This turns out to be a bit of a handicap, because the movie paints them ...A Time Capsule View of The 90's - JasonTHX
The real Irony for me of this seminal portrait of the 90's was that "Reality Bites" was released almost exactly to the day that Kurt Cobain - the poster boy for grunge, slackerdom
was found dead, this movie celebrated that new form of counter-culture without ...