S.F.W

One of those uber nineties movies that critiqued the media and tried to be edgy. These movies look somewhat ridiculous today. (Though the Chase with Charlie Sheen at least managed to be funny). Part of the problem is that the underlying philosophy is a value free world weariness which when put on film comes across as spoiled, stupid, and self indulgent laziness. And since movies are essentially THEE dominant form of media, criticizing media's omnipresence or vanity comes across as blithely self deluded. That said the cast does the best with what they have.... which generally rounds out to putting as much emphasis on their turn to curse as possible. The plot..... if it can be called that makes very very little sense if you stop to think about for more than half a second. The central event of movie is never so much explained as much as it brought back in choppy flashbacks in order to remind the audience about why were following these characters. Better time could be spent watching a smarter film on the topic. I suggest Network.

All that being said, I can't completely hate a movie with this great of a soundtrack. The fact that almost a minute of screen time is given over to the band Gwar makes it at least retain some value. I've also noticed that music from the 50's - 70's is thrown into movies at all different times. But the only time you hear 90s music is in 90's era movies. It's almost as though Gen X in their nihilism forgot to leave any lasting mark on culture.

I'm not trying to say that this movie is the greatest movie ever made, but I feel that it is too bad that more people do not know about S.F.W. It's a bit hard to believe the plot, but since when have movie plots played within the guidelines of normal society. Stephen Dorff gives an amazing performance as Cliff Spab. This was the first movie I ever saw him in, and seeing S.F.W. really made me think he is destined for big things. I liked how the story shifted from past to present constantly. This way, you had to wait until the end of the movie to find out what happened at the beginning. Makes it all the more intriguing. I love this movie, and most people would too if they gave it half a chance.

5 people are taken hostage in a convenience store for 36 days until a fight allows them to escape. During these 36 days the terrorists' only demand is that their video feed from inside the store is broadcast live on the networks. Spab and Wendy emerge as the only survivors to find themselves heroes of the media generation.

Don't let the plot summary fool you into thinking this is some type of thriller with a media slant. The hostage thing is over in the first 3 minutes and any flashbacks are dull and meaningless (except one powerful one). Instead we have a mixed up satire on media and the fade of fame. The plot never makes sense and really loses the point after only a few minutes. The fact that the whole hostage thing is never explained and barely touched on just shows it is nothing but a poor plot device to get to where the makers wanted to be to make their point.

It manages to come across as just an angry youth movie – with it's anger not directed anywhere in particular. This causes it to be very loud and with far too much swearing, causing you to start to switch off. The only point that the film manages to make clearly is that no matter who is the 15 minute celeb or news story that night, TV is all the same. Wow! What cutting edge comment!

Dorff is OK but just plain annoying in his videos (that apparently the world love). Witherspoon is vapid, Busey is just loud and annoying and Adams is totally misused. The cast put more effort into saying the F word than anything else. It is very off putting because it is unnecessary – I guess they thought the `kids' would dig it.

Overall this is just like the media that it tries to criticise. It is loud, meaningless, lacking substance and totally forgettable – physician heal thyself............

Way, way ahead of it's time (similarly themed films made years after were Natural Born Killers, Mad City, Truman Show), this is, quite simply, a life-altering, mind-altering film which zeroes in on and then embodies the zeitgeist of the nineties. See this film, take a look at the world surround you (especially western popular culture), and think about it. It's also pretty f***in' funny.

If not its certainly a contender. If anything you could look at the rest of his career and consider he has been searching for ways to recreate this character ever since.

Its a pretty cool movie that along with Natural Born Killers was a high profile examination of, at the time, media practices (NBK in a much more extreme way) and the creation of celebrity (regardless of talent or in spite of it).

Its sassy, funny and for sure entertaining :)