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The beginning of this movie was hilarious. Jerome goes to art school and meets zany characters, including his gay roommate, his wannabe filmmaker roommate, and his art teacher (played by John Malkovich). The dialogue was witty. The audience loved the satire of modern art, because we all know how ridiculous modern art can be yet we must be polite and insightful when looking at it. Everyone could relate to the perverted college humor. Unfortunately, all this silliness ended. Right in the middle, the movie took a turn of tone and with it took the refreshingly simple but fun plot.

Art School Confidential suddenly became serious about its characters, including the mysterious strangler. The decision to transform the movie into a serious mystery was it's major flaw. With this move, the writers felt they had to incorporate a more confusing plot to achieve a mysterious tone. By the end, the initial idea of simply amusing the audience was lost because of the poorly-crafted mystery, leaving the audience disappointed.

Why do filmmakers do this? They think because we have paid to see an indie movie, we want an obscure plot twist topped off with an unresolved ending. It's like having ice cream, fun and simple, then someone comes over and adds a twist of lime and tops it off with crab apples! Obscure, but no fun because it tastes weird and you were content with the ice cream by itself. I recommend the first hour of this movie.

Despite the strong cast (John Malkovich, Angelica Huston, and James Broadbent) and promising premise, this film fails by trying to be too many things at once: mindless T&A comedy, cynical black comedy, coming-of-age, mystery, thriller, love story.

Sensitive suburban high school artist Jerome (attractive, virginal Max Minghella), is bullied by cute jocks and draws portraits of girls he likes. He escapes to an art school in New York City because he loves a model in its brochure, which goes a long way towards summing up his commitment to art and education.

Jerome has two roommates: one is a gross, loud-mouthed film student; the other a fey fashion student, incredibly the only gay male in the school. There is a 'militant lesbian' and, like her, every student is a one-dimensional stereotype. The cops searching for a campus strangler are brutal, foul-mouthed cretins. Subtlety is not one of this film's virtues.

Jerome meets Audrey, the girl in the brochure, and proceeds to bore everyone with his tireless obsession. No one can blame her when she falls for Jonah, played by princely Matt Keeslar, an adonis whose simplistic art wins acclaim from one and all. Audrey's young god is not who he appears to be and his story, not developed, would have been fascinating. In an ironic twist, Jerome gains artistic success when he becomes associated with the strangler.

There is a genuinely funny moment when Jerome's parents react to his talk of a girlfriend, and a sympathetic one when Jerome seeks advice from Angelica Huston. But there are way too many false notes. Characters are not richly drawn, but simple monochromatic sketches. We are so clearly not in New York: the school is filmed on location in California so one minute we are on a sunny, spacious, modern campus, and the next we are on an impossibly dark, grim New York street set. The Beethoven Concerto used as a love theme throughout the film is uncredited. Audrey is a model, but it is never established what else she does at the school besides being a foil for all the other girls (who are unbalanced, vindictive, and shrill), and an object for drooling, sophomoric males. John Malkovich has some very funny postures and affectations, but is hobbled by the writing, as are all the actors.

The title may be an homage to another silly film about students and cops. High School Confidential starred Russ Tamblyn as a sexy, wise-cracking flat-foot pretending to be in high school. But the 1958 cult classic doesn't aspire to be more than it is: a superficial, clichéd look at teenagers – plus it features Jerry Lee Lewis rockin' the school on the back of a flat-bed truck.

What's fascinating about the films of Terry Zwigoff is the relativity contained within--for as shockingly vulgar, tasteless, and non-PC a punchline can be, it is made funny because we have seen the characters in some form in our own lives, and ultimately empathize with their plight (the self-loathing mall Santa of "Bad Santa"; the disaffected teenage girls of "Ghost World"; the hopeless introverted romantics of "Art School Confidential"); instead of pointing a mocking finger and getting a laugh at someone else's expense, Zwigoff's humor hits a note that insists "we've all been here before, and we can laugh about it." His films also possess an underlying sincerity (and humanity) that goes unseen in the over-confident Hollywood claptrap that stinks up theaters nowadays.

"Art School Confidential," Zwigoff's second collaboration with cartoonist/screenwriter Daniel Clowes ("Ghost World") is another modest coming-of-age film of subtle implication. The world of Strathmore College, an art school located in the inner city, is presented as a heavily-satirized den of losers, where Jerome (Max Minghella) is looking to become, in his words, "the greatest living American artist." He rooms with obnoxious film student Vince (Ethan Suplee), who is working on an amateur film about a rash of on-campus murders, naively romances pretty art model Audrey (Sophia Myles, "Underworld"), and is given tragic (yet hilarious) words of wisdom by Jimmy (Jim Broadbent), a burned-out alcoholic and former student. When met with disenchantment and disappointment over the pretentious students and the professors (including John Malkovich, who does a funny reprise of his "Shadow of the Vampire" persona) who ignore his work, Jerome hatches a self-destructive plot that eventually--through ridiculous circumstances we believe anyway--lands him in prison.

While "Art School Confidential" sometimes seems at the mercy of far too many subplots, the eclectic group of art students and wayward adults are so wonderfully depicted (even if more than a few are outright bastards) they make the film irresistible. Zwigoff's films often come off as pleasant anachronisms of cinematic technique--his lovers always bear more in common with the stars of early cinema than their magazine-friendly counterparts; yet at the same time, he can pull more hilarity out of a truly tasteless joke than any other director working today (the best go to Suplee and Joel More). Directors who attempt this kind of crude/sensitive balance usually fail--Zwigoff, however, is both in touch with his inner romantic and child. The end result of "Art School Confidential" is intelligent, bitingly satirical, magically romantic, and filled with irreverent hilarity.

Terry Zwigoff presents you true art and the meaning of art, both Viusal and Film.It sure is pain in the ass and no one can better explain that to you than this film.

The film is about a young teenager trying to pursue a career in Art in an art school.But before he can do so, he must learn a few things about what art really is.His obsession to art school and his vision combine with the teachers minds who pretty much spend their whole time relating art with life.And in a art school where amateur art is more appreciated than professional,visionary art.But soon when he meets a women , his life takes a turn.Though,he has a nemesis to face to win the girls heart.Apparently,the nemesis' work,which is just plain childish according to our hero,is widely appreciated.So the competition begins.But as he desperately tries and loses,and gets advices from a drunken ,washed out,but talented artist,he drifts himself apart from art.But things take a big change for our depressed,lost hero,when he is gets involved in a murder mystery ,where he is the primary suspect.

Art school confidential has ideas.Lot's of intriguing offbeat ideas.And while it tries to be funny and offbeat but it fails in the end.Tries to make a successful satire out of art,but it fails to churn up even one great laugh.And it's boring at times,it just dangles around emphasizing what art really is, without actually telling us what it really is.It just mingles and experiments with the concept of art and tries to make something out of it ,pretty much throughout the film.It's characters slowly become pathetic and uninteresting.It's situations becomes absurd and pointless.It just disappoints.

But despite all that,it's fun.It sure is entertaining,but it could've been really big if any of the filmmakers even tried once.And when the plot shifts to its murder mystery,it gets even worse.It's something I didn't expect.It's got a few good moments,but it's not enough for a premise like this.The film daringly tries to make a point by shouting out loud that art schools suck.They're waste of time and just there to rip you off your cash.The students are taught by a bunch of old failures trying to make a living passing on their failures to the new generation.

It would've been better as a satire than an attached murder mystery.I mean,there's nothing wrong with the murder mystery drama thing,but I just wanted to see a proper satire here.Instead of some predictable resolution to the whole mystery.It's got some good twists and turns ,but in the end it's all too obvious.It's half baked as a love story ,and neither is it emotionally touching.Way too contrived and convoluted unintentionally.Too jumbled up.

With the exception of Broadbant,the rest of the cast is just fine.Minghella tries but can't be more than average,although he gets the character's depressing sadness.Malkovich is just a waste of talent and one would expect a lot from him.

As original as it tries to be,in the end it goes for the conventional ending.The writer,who is adapting his own book,just has no clue what he's doing and what he wants to convey most of the times.The writer focused more on the comic elements of the film rather than finding a way to solve the mysteries of the plot that can hardly fit the way it is written.It sometimes feels disconnected from the material, I mean at times you feel like watching different short movies in one film with same actors in different situations and hardly relate to the story.And the director seems to go along with it,giving us as much entertainment and fun out of it as he is able to.

This film at times becomes hard to watch as it mixes so many elements that if succeeded in mixing them well,it could have achieved remarkable result.But that is not the case in this satire. Mixing social satire, art school satire,a wicked love story, murder mystery ,and attempting to bring about a coming-of-age story.This doesn't work.

It can stand out to be a different approach, even if it's not fully successful ,it still succeeds on entertaining you.With a cop-out ending.

For all the true artists out there this film is your lesson.Perhaps.

This is definitely Terry Zwigoff's least successful film, and a big disappointment in a lot of ways. But I think if you don't expect too much, it's fun and has some good twists along the way. The film follows Jerome, who goes to art school after graduation. The film's major strengths are that it really gets into the absurdity of the concept of art school (I don't think many believe that one can be taught how to be an artist), and that it communicates well the feeling of not being able to succeed. It also does good by not making Jerome a remarkable artist himself. He's a talented drawer, but his stuff is largely uninteresting and unimaginative. For a while the film seems to be poking fun at more abstract art, but then it does pull back and smartly doesn't dismiss the more abstract or pop art on display, though it does put forward some of the various artists' pomposities. The film plays a lot like Ghost World, which had the same director and writer, in that it sets up all the characters as stereotypes and then begins to reveal them as more human. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work nearly as well here. There are a ton of other problems, too. Max Minghella, the actor who plays Jerome, is painfully dull. He looks like a model in a catalogue. The girl in whom he develops an interest is equally dull, an everyday blonde cutie who comes off as rather vapid. With these two protagonists, a certain tiny part of the film kept coming to mind, where one of the very rare persons of color in the class asks their art history professor why they only study dead white males. Why do we have to have these two boring, white-bread characters dominating the film? Luckily, the supporting cast is very good, and includes John Malkovich (in a rather typical but entertaining Malkovichian role), Steve Buscemi, Jim Broadbent and Joel Moore. It also includes Anjelica Huston, whom I generally don't like. But it feels like she might have had a bigger part originally which was cut down.

Much of the problem with Art School Confidential lies with the character of Jerome. Clowes writes graphic novels, and the main character he's written here is simply a cartoon figure with no depth to speak of. He falls much too fast from his ambition of becoming the world's greatest artist to someone willing to compromise his talent for the sake of coming in first in a college competition. Granted, he is pliable, aping whoever he happens to be with at the moment—it's Bardo one moment, star alumnus Marvin Bushmiller (Adam Scott) the next— and adopting the bitter, nihilistic rantings of failed artist Jimmy (Jim Broadbent) as if those beliefs were his own. This might all be interesting if Jerome was, say, the type of troubled, seeking boy that Minghella played in Bee Season. Sadly he is not, and though Minghella is a fine actor, there's not a lot he can do with what is essentially a stick figure.

That's not to say that Art School Confidential is completely worthless. Malkovich (who also produced) is very funny, and so is Broadbent, but mostly this feels like the type of comedy Jerome's roommate Vince might someday make: overly broad, obvious, and very self- conscious. It wants to be cool, it wants to be hip, but like Jerome in his quest to be the next Picasso, it's merely clueless.

For the first 30 minutes, 'Art School Confidential' sets itself up as a coming of age movie. But instead of at that pivotal moment when one comes of age, Jerome the aspiring artist turns to the dark side and begins to show someone with genuine ambition and a worthy character descend into a turbulent test of artistic innovation. Whatever the hell that means. 'Art School' not only depicts the individual growth of Jerome, but also analyzes the definition of art, and in some respects, defines it quite well. Why does shitty art get so much acclaim? Why does quality art often go unnoticed? Why are artists such pretentious ass holes? The whole movie answers all these questions hilariously and beautifully.

We saw this dark comedy at Sundance (SLC showing). I wanted very much to give this a totally positive review, but it's just so disjointed that it was hard to decide what it was trying to say. The cast is terrific: John Malkovic, Anjelica Huston, Jim Broadbent, Sophie Myles, among others. There are a lot of things that are funny in this film, and we did laugh. But the storyline is all over the place. I read an interview with the director (who didn't come for Q & A after this one), and he said the storyline has a lot to do with his fear of New York, along with his fascination for it. The NYC shown in this film is very scary; I don't think I'd ever even want to visit it, much less want to live there! The film skewers a lot of snooty art types, and in that arena, it works. However, the second half of the movie just didn't quite work for me. The firsthalf of the film was amusing, but when it turned extremely dark in the final act, it just didn't feel right. It's too bad, because I think it's great fun to skewer the snooty art world...but this was just too far over the top.

Yesterday I went to my local art theater to watch an art film about a future artist attending art school. Whew! I'm glad I got that out!

But lets chat about this art film, shall we? Here we go...

It's got a lot going for it. First and foremost is an impressive script. Obviously the screenwriter, director, producer (or all three) attended art school at some point. And making fun of the people and faculty at such a place is where the comedy in Art School Confidential takes wing. When Jerome (Max Minghella), the main character, begins attending his freshman year at Strathmore Art School, he's quickly introduced to the cliché-riddled cast (the cliché is purposeful and pulled off just as well as the movie GALAXY QUEST). He meets the burned-out art teacher Professor Sandiford (John Malkovich), the beautiful model that every male wants named Audrey (Sophia Myles), the angry lesbian, the teacher's pet/kiss-a$$, the drug addled film student, and a splash of others. There's also a strangler on the loose in the neighborhood which will play a vital role in how Jerome's artistic dreams play out.

The ridiculousness of art school is what really makes this movie work. Jerome is obviously very talented, but other artists whiz by him because art is what the artists say art is. It might be a picture of a car, or a man attaching jumper cables to his nipples and letting current run through him, or a mound of plastic chairs.

Jerome wants to be the next Picasso. He studies hard, tries to get noticed, but nothing seems to work. He's also a virgin and wants desperately to get laid but with the wacked out student body at Strathmore, he's got his work cut out for him.

As Jerome works and works, trying to become a successful artist, we get to watch him fall into despair; he starts smoking, drinking, and visits a washed up Strathmore graduate named Jimmy (Jim Broadbent) who gives him some dark and grotesquely sage advice: "Are you good at 'getting on your knees?'" (I've cleaned that up a bit, but you get the idea.) It becomes apparent to Jerome (and the movie watcher) that he has no chance of becoming a recognized artist ...unless something drastic happens. Which, of course, it does (Cliche? Oh yes!) Once this "something drastic" happens, Jerome learns the true nature of being an artist. It's an unfortunate and incredibly funny set of circumstances that finally thrusts Jerome into the limelight.

The level of casting in this indie film is surprisingly large and notable. In addition to John Malkovich (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) we see Anjelica Huston (THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), Jim Broadbent (MOULIN ROUGE!), Matt Keeslar (DUNE miniseries), Ethan Suplee (COLD MOUNTAIN), Steve Buscemi (THE BIG LEBOWSKI) and several others.

This impressive cast pulled off the overly-pretentious attitudes that flood many art schools. They were witty yet cynical which made laughing out loud a requirement during the viewing of this amazing little flick.

God I love these little independents when they're done right!

In "Ghost World," Terry Zwigoff's wonderful rumination on the awkwardness of adolescence, the main character felt like she didn't belong in a world that cherishes conformity. Her hostility toward others and general unpleasantness was a defense; she was going to reject others before they had a chance to reject her.

You might say that "Art School Confidential" addresses the next phase of life, when the pettinesses of high school are left behind and young adults have a sort of second chance at creating new identities for themselves. But what happens if you don't know what that identity should be?

Meet Jerome (played with just the right blend of idealism and frustration by the young actor Max Minghella), who's determined to become a great artist and enrolls at a dingy New York art school. Like many young and immature artists, he thinks he's the only one who has anything truly original to say, and can't understand why others aren't as impressed with his work as he is himself. He struggles to ease into a comfortable artistic style, something everyone around him seems able to do without a problem. Meanwhile, he pursues a figure model who he thinks is the most beautiful girl in the school and who reminds him of a Picasso painting; seeks advice from his art teacher (John Malkovich) and receives a thinly veiled sexual proposition in return; and becomes fascinated by a misanthropic recluse (Jim Broadbent in a wonderfully bizarre and off-kilter performance) who just may be a serial strangler.

As with "Ghost World," Zwigoff approaches his material with a very funny but very black sense of humour of the slightly queasy variety. But unlike "Ghost World," he doesn't pull it off as well. "Art School Confidential" remains abstract and glib; its satire never takes focus. I wasn't sure what Zwigoff's point is; is he poking fun at the pretensions of modern art? Is he making a comment about the pretensions of young artists? Toward the end, he seems to be addressing the arbitrariness of artistic success. But everything comes off as somewhat muddled. There are really good moments, like the aforementioned ones with Jim Broadbent, but then there are other characters and plot lines that do nothing but diffuse the film, like several scenes involving Jerome's roommates and a couple of moments with Anjelica Huston, who plays another art teacher and must have appeared in this film as a favor to someone, given the minuscule amount of screen time she's given. The early parts of the film are the best and funniest; but Zwigoff gets ambitious with his ending, and it tanks terribly.

Still, I enjoyed "Art School Confidential," and I imagine other liberal arts majors will too. It really captures that feeling of being surrounded by young artist wannabes, all trying to impress and all terrified of being labeled conventional. Ah, days I can look back fondly on but don't think I'd ever want to revisit.....

Grade: B

I guess this movie is one that would make more sense or resonance if you are an art student. True story, after seeing this movie, my friend, who is a graphic-design/painting major, almost considered dropping out. It wasn't until we (me and my other art-major friends) convinced him that as long as you aren't out to do art just to be famous (like Jerome did), you won't have to preform unseemly acts with one's mouth to climb the ladder for recognition.

While this movie IS disjointed, it does fit in perfectly for a Daniel Clowes story. Fans of his work will be happy with the results.

This film is a good reminder that just because you're an artist, doesn't mean you should be unhappy. Just don't try to be in it just for the money, cause you'll end up more of a mess than when you started!

Greetings again from the darkness. I don't question the chemistry of director Terry Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes. I enjoyed "Ghost World" and hated "Bad Santa", which I realize has a near cult following. They are master scene creators (vignettes, if you will) but just don't seem to have the skills to make an entire movie flow.

Blessed with a tremendous cast including John Malkovich, Angelica Huston, Jim Broadbent and Steve Buscemi, Zwigoff continues to brow beat the audience with his perceived brilliance. This film suffers from the weak presence of Max Minghella ("Syriana" and "Bee Season") who is in most scenes. Minghella, with his bedroom eyes and pouty supermodel lips, has no real personality and just can't pull off either the quiet moments of desperation or the ha-ha outbursts of the kid who thinks the stupidity of his surroundings must be a big joke.

A bright spot is Sophia Myles who has some screen presence as the art class model slash girl of his dreams whom Minghella believes he is destined to be with. Also the commentary on the art world in general, and art school in particular, is quite poignant. Otherwise, there are too many in your face punch lines and definitely too much penis screen time for my tastes.

Here's hoping Zwigoff and Clowes keep at it because, although I don't agree with those who think they are great, I do believe there is potential greatness waiting to develop.

Caveat: I have a deep suspicion that if you did not attend a Visual Arts school, or perhaps at least a school of one of the Arts, this one is going to leave you confused, irritated, or apathetic. It's definitely an "insider" film. That said, the first 75% is deadly accurate on the pretentious, hopeful, pseudo-intellectual, hot house environment of training in the Arts, complete with student politics, faculty politics, administrative politics, art scene and art business politics, and any other politic you can throw in. It's "hip" deep in its own bullshit. I began to lose interest when I caught on we were heading out of the Arts theme and into a Murder/detective theme. At this point, the story loses what I found witty and insightful, pursues the murder angle, and in an overstated, clichéd manner, tries to wrap the two themes together in a final irony. Perhaps these things would be entertaining or even eye opening for those who DIDN'T attend an Art school, but for me, it was enough to stick with the in-house world of young college students trying to find their way into their personal illusions about what the art world could and would offer them.

First the good points ............. The idea seems fresh, even if you have seen all the first college semester movies out there. The lead, Max Minghella is convincing as the wannabe great artist. The presence of John Malkovich, Michael Lerner, and Angelica Huston adds immeasurably. For the first hour or so the movie holds interest with the outrageous art projects. It is at this point that the movie takes an unexpected, and questionable turn. Now the bad points ............. The female lead, artists model, seems both miscast and rather unremarkable. Sophia Myles is never convincing as a love interest. Finally, the ending is both unbelievable, and unsatisfying. More good than bad, still misses the mark, but not by much. - MERK

As a current art student, this film came up in many conversations during class. Some said it was funny, others didn't like it, so i decided to see for myself. As the movie starts, the mood seems as though it's going to be a satire to the whole art school environment, and how things are done, and the kind of people there are at the schools. It was humorous to see the cliché art students. Although soon enough the film began to depart as it seemed it was going to be about Jeromy getting laid, and another college virgin story. But soon the film finds ground and becomes a bit of a love story, as Jeromy finds the 'perfect'.

Around this time is where the film suddenly spawns numerous plots and usually would not be seen in the same film. The murder mystery emerges of the local serial killer. This entire subplot, seemed to ruin the art school aspect of the film. As the satire of art school dwindled and the film became more and more bleak, and began dealing with the hopelessness of being successful, it seems as though the entire art school satire set up had been for nothing. By the end of the film you don't recall anything in the beginning that really helped bring a close to the film.

Over all this film was scattered and the 2nd half didn't not deliver what the first half promises the film to be about.

I came into this film expecting a mean, rude comedy in the vein of Zwigoff's previous effort Bad Santa (a film which has more brains than it gets credit for). For the first 3/4 or so of the film, that's what I got, and I enjoyed every second. Towards the last bit, the film takes a turn darker than you would expect. This sudden twist, unexpected as it was, did not feel trite or convoluted. More fascinating.

Make no mistake this a dark comedy in the truest definition. There is something about the ending that is supremely haunting.

Ethan Suplee provides the hyper-actively aggressive role he has become beloved for. Malkovich does not disappoint as the burnt-out and oh-so-full-of-crap art professor. Jim Broadbent channels Chuck Bukowski here as he barks like a pit-bull and alternately purrs like a tabby as the disheveled failed artist/ nihilistic mentor of our boy Jerome, who just may be the only unpretentious and truly talented student at Strathmore University. Throw in Anjelica Huston and Steve Buscemi in delightfully understated roles, a string of murders courtesy of the mythical Strathmore Strangler, and the positively stunning Sophia Myles as the nude drawing class model Audrey who becomes both the object of Jerome's affection and the source of his disillusion, and you have got a dysfunctional masterpiece.

This nice little study into comic art is both unique in the genre and a fun view. However, when it continues to try and merge quirky character on top of quirky character, the enjoyment may wear a bit.

Unfortunately the movie failed to find an audience, even with its implied insight and social commentary.

Thus if you like Art, a little comedy or even just John Malkevich talking about triangles please enroll in this school.

As,-->

the movie is a decent trip into a warped mind of "Art"

Additionally, remember to stay after the credits for a brief additional scene, which always adds value for those whom routinely stay.

Having previously seen the excellent Ghost World, I came to this film expecting more of the same offbeat GenY satire, instead what I got was a dull poorly scripted pastiche which seemed to be making a bid to become the latest member of the Scary Movie franchise and failing even in that ! A paper thin and utterly predictable plot combined with a blunt force trauma script to make this a soggy mess of a film which not even the combined talents of heavy duty thesps John Malkovich & Jim Broadbent could hold together for long. The biggest problem with this film is that it can't decide which genre it wants to be in, and in shooting for more than one misses all of its targets by a clear mile. The bulk of the the film resembles a bizarre hybrid of one of those 1980's John Hughes movies (Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Ferris Bueller etc)with all the humour & charm surgically removed, and the scary movie franchise without the absurdist gags and movie in-jokes. And then just when you think the fusion cusine can't get any more bizarre, they throw in a couple of woefully tacked on secondary plot lines, one of which has clearly been lifted wholesale from Patrica Cornwell's dubious theories about Walter Sickert and another referencing John Wayne Gacy - and all to no obvious effect! Anybody who thinks this is dark humour is very, very wrong! Compared to the efforts of contemporaries Todd Solondz or even Keven Smith these guys are not even treading water. Do yourself a favour, if you are tempted to see this film save yourself the price of a ticket and wait until it hits the £2.99 discount racks of your local corner shop - trust me it won't take long, and at least you'll have a shiny new frisby to bounce off the wall!

First off, let me just say how much I love Max Minghella. I saw Bee Season at a film festival a while back and straight off knew he was going to do fantastic things with his career. So far he's proved me right.

I have been anticipating Art School Confidential for a long time. I found out about it through the IMDb, and as a big fan of Zwigoff's previous work, I was really looking forward to seeing what he was going to do with the fabulous cast he had assembled (Malkovich, Huston, Buscemi, etc). The movie did not disappoint.

The beginning of the film is about what I expected- cute, off-beat story about a talented geek who goes to art school and pursues the girl of his dreams. And then it got dark. And then it got very dark. And then it got extremely dark. I soon realized I had no idea where it was going to take me next, and that excited me. The 'mystery' aspect of the movie is brilliantly done as well- it keeps you just well informed enough that you have about a 50/50 chance of figuring it out preemptively, and you'll always realize what's going on just when you need to.

I have read reviews that called Art School Confidential misanthropic, among other things. I disagree. It has misanthropic aspects, misanthropic characters, but overall I found that it ended on an expressly positive note. I absolutely loved the ending. Five minutes before it ended, I wasn't sure how it was going to end, and that, in my opinion, is the best way to do it. Zwigoff's direction is also very impressive. There's a distinct difference in the atmosphere throughout- it starts out looking and feeling sunnier and lighter, and as Minghella's character becomes darker, so does the look of the movie. Just one of those little things that adds to the overall experience.

Art School Confidential thoroughly covers ground that Ghost World touched on briefly- namely, the line between art and BS. It is clearly a subject on which Terry Zwigoff has a lot to say, and he says it very eloquently. The cast is great, the music is great, the direction is great. Go see it. And let me say again... I love Max Minghella. Here's hoping he doesn't turn to stupid teen flicks to pay the bills.

Director Terry Zwigoff has only three features, Ghost World, Bad Santa and this, all done within a five year span, which is a bit odd seeing that at least two of them were very successful critically. It's as if this movie ended his career, which is a bit strange as, while I think it's the weakest of the three it's not to say that it hasn't got it's merits. It's a good satire on the whole art world with some very funny moments and some not so subtle attacks on the subject. For me, the main problem with this movie is it's unbearable lead character. He's such an obnoxious little prick that I had a lot of trouble identifying with and rooting for. Just compare him with Willie from Bad Santa and it's easy to see how the same director can make me root for a horrible person. A bit of an uneven movie but hardly deserving of ending someone's career.