S.F.W.

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 :)

I just watched S.F.W. and was amazed at how, at least five years before the major trend of 'reality TV' became the in-thing, this movie satirized it, and showed it for how wrong and un-real it is. This movie scathingly commentates on the media's ability to warp and distort truth, and to give the mundane deep meaning. Cliff Spab is a meaningless person trapped in a meaningless society that does not appreciate the horror of his ordeal and ruthlessly tries to cash in on his pain. This film is chock-full of meaning and irony, and it is simply brilliant.

The plot is cliched. In fact I could have sworn I have seen it many many times before. It is almost "Mad City" except it is better. It is the story of a hostage who has been aired for 36 straight days and has become a celebrity. His most famous quote is S.F.W. or So F***ing What. The worst thing that I could see about the movie was its language, and if the bleeps were not there on the parts that were supposed to be on television, I would swear that this had the most F-words and any other swearing than even Goodfellas. But, it did not bother me.

This movie stresses me, and it should. It is about what the media was when the movie came out. Instead of the mind-controlling media that it is currently, see "Mad City," it used to be fickle, and still is a little, and change with the public. One day the media could hate the pres and the next it could love him for the same action. This is instead of trying to force everybody to hate the pres.

The movie is a little confusing because of the editing. It starts with day 36 of the crisis, and then moves forward. We only see the crisis in flashbacks. You never learn what the terrorists are about, and it does not really matter. What does matter is that they held Spab and Wendy hostage for 36 days and aired every minute on TV.

This is pure Gen-X stuff. But, it is good for everybody else if you can get past the language. It actually has something to say about society and how everybody is sheep. They all follow everybody else without knowing why. They change at the drop of a hat. And they all want a piece of the leader.

This is not really a comedy, and not really an action or drama. It is non-conformist which is good. Watch this movie, and you will automatically mull it over. Then, watch it again. You won't see everything the first time around. This is a high-rate film, but a it has low points. 8/10

S.F.W.

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

A feckless young man (Stephen Dorff) becomes an unlikely celebrity after surviving a televised hostage ordeal in his local convenience store, but he's unable to reconcile the tragedy of the siege - in which his best friend (Jack Noseworthy) was killed - with the exaggerated version of events peddled by a ratings-hungry media.

Jefery Levy's cult-movie wannabe pairs Dorff alongside relative newcomer Reese Witherspoon in a vicious assault on the contemporary media, depicted here as a soulless entity concerned solely with ratings and money (yeah, so what else is new?). The message is obvious, but Levy and co-scriptwriter Danny Rubin (GROUNDHOG DAY) revel in their own daring: Dorff and Witherspoon play ordinary characters who emerge from an extraordinary situation and are forced to confront their unexpected (and unwanted) fame. However, Levy's unflattering view of modern journalism (symbolized by John Roarke as a variety of thinly-disguised real-life TV celebrities who feed off other people's misery, and Gary Coleman in a fleeting, self-deprecating cameo) seems a little distorted and misleading, though clearly filtered through the lead character's personal viewpoint. Dorff himself is terrific, as always, playing a charismatic and foul-mouthed Everyman, scornful of the manner in which his personal misfortune has been manipulated to feed the expectations of a mindless, sensation-hungry audience. But there are moments when the screeching soundtrack fades abruptly to silence and Levy concentrates on Dorff's haunted face as he recalls key events - good and bad - from the siege, and the friendships that were forged and destroyed under extreme duress. The movie doesn't say anything new, but the execution is invigorating.

Look out for an early appearance by Tobey Maguire as a young stoner who thinks he's died and gone to heaven when he and his buddy (Dana Allan Young) encounter their idol Dorff on an empty street (a truly hilarious sequence). Steve Antin cameos as a news reporter named after his character in the equally odd INSIDE MONKEY ZETTERLAND, helmed by Levy in 1992.

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.