Kicking and Screaming

Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming is one of those rare films that actually gets it right when it comes to understanding the angst of being a young adult right out of college. Baumbach's dialogue matches each of the feelings that newly graduated students go through, but doesn't stoop to the level of condescending. We all identify with the characters of Kicking and Screaming whether it is Skippy and his wanting to further his education because there might be something he missed out on or if Skippy doesn't subconsciously want to become his friends Max, Grover, or Otis. We might identify with Max who blatantly doesn't know what to do now. Max's only hellbent on not looking back on his college years, "I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory... and I didn't have a good time." Kicking and Screaming is a film deserving to be recognize as a journey through the minds of graduates and self-discovery of oneself.

"Kicking and Screaming" was Noah Baumach's first film. He wrote and directed it at age 25, which is a real accomplishment because the film's very compelling. Riding the wave of the independent cinema in US in the early 90s, Baumbach created a tragicomedy of a tightly-wound group of friends grappling with the reality of life after graduation. Basically, their anxiety is borne out of accepting the responsibility of, finally, you know, growing up and joining the adult-force. As actor Chris Egieman (the articulate Max in the film) has pointed out in a recent interview, these guys are forced to accept that they must now take their lives seriously. Decisions and choices are optional no longer. The question of 'what next?' would need to be answered now. Bummer, right? Of course these early-20 white kids bicker and groan; someone of them delay the inevitable and slack around on the college campus, and at least one of them returns to school and retakes the same classes just so that "he can be a student again." The guys amuse themselves on dreary afternoons: they ask each other if they beat off; they do each others' girlfriends; they crowd around the beer bottles and cigarettes to play trivia games ("Name all 7 Jason Voorhees movies"). Mostly, they just hang out. And they talk; a lot. They philosophise the little things, every little small inconsequential detail that makes up their special universe.

Baumbach has confessed of his love for improv comedy, and he imbues the comedy of the film with some of that. Not all of it works (the Cookie Man scene is a little cringe-inducing) but it's cute at least. But the dialogue is pointed, always witty and full of incisive detail. Although Baumbach and regular collaborator Wes Andresen have been compared with the great JD Salinger, I think Richard Linklater could use some love too.

"Kicking and Screaming" will appeal to a certain type of audience: the pseudo-intellectuals who take, say, their hobbies a bit too seriously. These hobbies or interests could be movies or even crossword puzzles. But this is how the film's characters want to spend their days. They want the world, their parents and their lovers to understand that they are normal for thinking that life before jobs or marriage or kids is as good as it gets. It will make the viewer feel 'OK' about belonging to a certain tribe, a community of like-minded individuals that others accuse, "you all speak the same way." This film implies that it's not lame even if the successful moneymaking pricks on the outside may snigger and chuckle. "Kicking and Screaming" is a wonderful, uplifting, funny, poignant film about the impending doom of adulthood.

There's a lot of angsting and whining in this movie that I didn't relate to when I was an optimistic college student, but now that I too am joining the ranks of the confused and unemployed post-graduate, I look upon its memory more fondly.

Eric Stoltz is very amusing as the eternal student/bartender. A friend of mine is particularly fond of the Otis character, the clown of the film and a master of deflated monosyllabic responses (check the same actor out in Mr. Jealousy - he has wonderful mastery of the trapped upperclass dork). Josh Hamilton does a great job expressing idealized romantic yearning, especially in the last scene of the film, which I won't give away but which is familiarly and achingly bittersweet.

If you're a stickler for realism you might say to yourself, "Yeah right, like these people just graduated from college, they're all in their 30s." If you're the type that can look past the fact that Olivia D'Abo played an 18 year old 10 years ago on The Wonder Years then you'll be OK.

(And if you like Josh Hamilton and Parker Posey, check out House of Yes)

KICKING AND SCREAMING (1995) **** Josh Hamilton, Olivia d' Abo, Chris Eigeman, Parker Posey, Eric Stoltz, Jason Wiles, Carlos Jacott, Cara Buono. To label this the perfect Generation X film so far would do an injustice to this exceptionally brilliant and dead accurate depiction of twentysomethings embarking upon The Real World and grasping futilely to remain in their comfortable existence at college. More like an update of "Diner" with five college pals griping, searching and dealing with their recent shift of reality with some truly biting dialogue and wholly believeable sequences. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach (who has a cameo in the "cow f***er" exchange). Perfect.

When I came across this film, I initially had no idea it was directed by Noah Baumbach. At first is rather difficult to immerse yourself in what is going on inside the screen, because there is no context whatsoever, only dialogue coming from obnoxious pseudo-intellectual grad students. It is definitely a low start, but Baumbach takes the steer and lets his characters breathe a little, with interaction in small doses among only a few other characters. Their relationships start growing and we finally get a sense of their context, not just time and place but also how everyone relates to one another and how do they feel specifically about youth, growing up, responsibilities and the future. It is only at the middle where things actually get interesting; the handling of dialogue is not great by any sort, but moderate, although not that interesting to begin with.

The characters overall are not very likeable, they all have their issues but it's hard to sympathize with any of them, because they are selfish and self-centered among other disruptive qualities. So, two of this films most important elements such as the writing and the characters try to sustain the film that ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying product.

Nevertheless, it's an acceptable effort from Noah Baumbach, but he has many better outlets than this.