REALITY BITES (1994)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
"Reality Bites" begins with the notion that no Generation X-er is safe in the job market because there are no real jobs for them. Winona Ryder plays Lelaina, the class valedictorian who lives with her best friend, Vickie (Janeane Garofalo). Lelaina works for an arrogant, impatient TV host (John Mahoney). Vickie is in charge of folding jeans at the Gap. Along comes the philosophical dude with a goatee, Troy (Ethan Hawke), who moves into their cozy little apartment because he got fired from his last job for eating a Snickers bar with the wrap still intact. He's a typical slacker who lies around the couch all day, quotes lines from "Cool Hand Luke," smokes pot like there is no tomorrow and will, according to Lelaina, "turn this house into a den of slack."
On the basis of a realistic depiction of hopeless, jobless twentysomethings, "Reality Bites" suffers. Firstly, if Lelaina was class valedictorian then how is it that she can't find work outside of using up her father's credit card to get cash at the local convenience store? For example, she is unable to compute simple math problems like adding figures at the local hot dog joint. She also has no idea what the word irony means when she applies for work at a publication house. Can the writer Helen Childress be serious?
What Lelaina seems capable of is shooting video footage of her friends as they answer personal questions about their lives. She literally runs into a top video executive, Michael (Ben Stiller), a brash, naive, uneducated yuppie who sees potential in Lelaina's amateur videos. The video footage is so shoddy that I couldn't see how an executive would ever be interested in the first place but never mind. And (*spoiler warning*) why does she choose Troy over Michael when Troy obviously wants nothing to do with her? Troy's change from a cold-hearted cynic to a warm-hearted, caring person is nothing but hogwash.
Lelaina's character is the least believable character in "Reality Bites" because she doesn't seem real and writer Childress makes her seem unfortunately dumber than she really is. Aside from her character, "Reality Bites" is mostly entertaining and on-target with scene-stealing roles by Janeane Garofalo (who probably became a star based on the terrific "My Sharona" scene) and Ben Stiller as a hipper Tom Cruise type (he also made his directorial debut here as well). It's just that based on the unbelievable ending, the characters of Troy and Lelaina don't quite ring true, though they are engagingly performed by Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder. "Reality Bites" was poised to become the "American Graffitti" of the twentysomething set of the 1990's. It never quite happened but it is fascinating to watch as a moment in time when Hollywood churned out these Generation X-er comedies by the dozen, hoping to bring in their target audience. They never showed up.
