Rating of
3/4
The title says it all
TheWolf - wrote on 08/03/07
Recent college grad Lelaina (Ryder) must decide between a coffee house dwelling slacker named Troy (Hawke) who continually loses menial jobs, and Michael (Stiller), a decent hardworking yuppie in Chicago. Essentially a film that started it all by raising awareness of The Gap, the 7-11 Big Gulp, and conversations about Generation X pop culture. Then unknowns Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn play Lelaina's best friends. Stiller's ability to understand the material shows that he has an interest in a generation that's trying to find the middle ground. Hawke, an underrated actor, is quite good as the sharp tongued Troy, who seems to come off as unlikable in some degree for his mouth and his constant criticism. Ben Stiller eschews his comic persona for a more serious role as good guy Michael. Garofalo and Zahn steal nearly every scene they're in as Lelaina's confidant and closeted friend respectively.
The movie is rather dated, but it does have some good points. While these twenty-somethings are trying to survive their after college lives in the same way that their parents were able to do during the money boom spending of the 80's, they find that its not quite as easy as it was supposed to be. This is one of those movies that either you will really like it or you won't.
