Slackers

The film is amusing and Devon Sawa plays himself, yet again, in this teen comedy fare that takes place in College. The story centres around these three guys who cheat their way (elaborately) throughout college. This one 'loser' who calls himself Cool Ethan (played by Jason Schwartzman in a stand out role, discovers this and blackmails them in order to get a date with this hot chick that he is stalking. I use the term stalking loosely, he has a shrine dedicated to her, a video of her playing in this shrine 24/7 and he collects her hair all over campus and made a hair doll that he sleeps with/talks to and uses to masturbate. Weird right?

Formulaic script goes on and Sawa falls in love with the girl he was paid to seduce for Schwartzman. She discovers this and hates him, he has to do something romantic and win her back, yawn. Jason Segel is one of the three 'slackers' before his rise to fame and right after his role Freaks and Geeks. It's nothing big, just a supporting role.

The film is really weird and out there, even for a teen comedy. One of the slackers, the ginger one, sings to his penis...and his penis literally sings back to him. He has a sock on it and it sings, mouth moves and everything. Why is this scene here? What does it do for the film? I have no idea. This character is weird and funny though, one standout scene is when he has to finish an exam and the teacher calls for pencils down. He continues to write and flips off the teacher, the teacher yells that he has failed. When he walks up to the desk the teachers says don't even bother handing it in, the ginger asks if he even knows who he is. The teachers replies no, so the kid throws his paper in the middle of the pile of tests and throws them around, then runs away. Funny and something I can see actually happening....singing penis, not so much.

I did laugh, mainly because Schwartzman stole the film. Segel has gone on to be a part of a hit show and a regular for the Apatow crew. Schwartzman has a new show on television and has his bits with Wes Anderson. Sawa? I don't even know what he's doing anymore. He has his fame when he was younger and the girls wanted him. He got ugly and fell off the map. I wanted more of their elaborate cheating schemes and less of the love story that doesn't make sense. They love each other after two or three dates?

I'm actually a huge fan of all teen films, but I think this one was vastly under-rated. Some comments give the impression that it is another gross-out teen romp with nothing new to offer. In actual fact although it may be ranked alongside films such as American Pie Road Trip etc, and though it shares common themes, it is actually a far superior film. As a result, people expect a film similar to the aforementioned, and are faced instead with one which has slightly more to offer. I found this very entertaining and surprising; quite subversive and original in actual fact, more likely to appeal to a greater intellect than that of a 13 year-old the jokes are more ironic and subtle in general, with a few obvious "gross-out" moments sprinkled in between. Though these as well are done with tongue firmly in cheek.

I would highly recommend this film, and prepare to be presently surprised by a film that most people fobbed off as another teen movie, but which is actually a lot more than that.

As a sexy comedy,this movie works.The plot seems a bit too contrived,but the acting is good.Devon Sawa is a former child star and DiCaprio type of teen heartthrob who is doing well with adult roles. He was great in NOW AND THEN(1995) as the boyfriend and in IDLE HANDS(1999) as the pothead. SLACKERS is a good grown-up role for him, although he will ultimately need better scripts if he is to break out and become a major star.

Scwartzman is fantastic. He reprises his role from RUSHMORE,but he plays it in a more seedy, hateful, sociopathic way.And King, what can one says? She is terrific.

I was not looking at this flick with too critical of an eye. It is not Shakespeare. But if you don't mind some raunchy humor, realistic language,and brief nudity, this film works on its own level as a college comedy.

Jesus guy ! C'mon !!! this film is not War and Peace ! Do you rent Robocop thinking its going to be about the Russian Revolution ? No. Slackers is about a bunch of Slackers. They do everything they can to avoid getting kicked out of school whilst doing no work. That's it. the plot has landed.

Everything else is reasonably watchable. The evil dude (I cant remember his name, but he is "cool") is a real sicko, and the hero's of the piece aren't exactly likable, but you do kind of feel for them.

I would give this movie 6/10 (for effort mainly)

<Plus the scene with the old hooker in Hospital is a real good one. It made me cringe !!>

If you like teenage/college humor and dirty jokes, this is your movie. The whole movie is basically goofy college humor and most movies like that don't really have a well thought out movie. With this they had all of that without forgetting about what the movie was about or ruining the story at the end. I felt very sorry for Dave when Ethan lied to Angela about him. Luckily they got everything settled out. I liked some of the actors and actresses who played minor characters in the movie too like Michael McDonald, Retta and Jim Rash. I'm surprised actor Michael C. Maronna isn't as big as he is because he was funny in this movie. He should get himself into more movies like this. See this movie if you haven't seen it. If you have, see it again.