SubUrbia (1997)

From my favorite movies..

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's the suburban neighborhood of Burnfield in Austin, Texas. Slackers hang out behind the convenience store that is operated by the Choudhurys. Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) is dating Sooze (Amie Carey). She wants to go to NYC to do alternative art but he refuses to do anything. Jokester Buff (Steve Zahn) works at the pizza joint. Tim (Nicky Katt) is ex-military with anger issues. Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey-Waters) is Sooze's friend. They come looking for Pony who was Jeff's friend and is now famous. A confrontation with the Choudhurys scatters the group. Pony (Jayce Bartok) shows up with publicist Erica (Parker Posey) and find the group. Jeff holds some resentment as he has a different memory of the start of Pony's band.It's one rambling night in the burbs written by Eric Bogosian and directed by Richard Linklater. It has some good actors. For some reason, I keep thinking of 'Waiting for Guffman'. In that movie, Guffman is a red herring and it works better. This movie turns aimless after Pony arrives. He's the goal and the movie loses its emphasis. The movie would be much better to climax with his arrival and end with a complete blowout with Jeff in that parking lot. The last half loses all the tension for me. The movie is 2 hours and could easily lose some of the second half.

In a small American town a group of friends have little to do other than hang around on the corner outside a convenience store drinking. Some have ambitions, some have none but they are all still there, much to the chagrin of the owner. Their empty lives are challenged though when a former classmate who has gone on to become a famous musician returns to the area for a gig and drops back to the corner to say hello.I was a bit worried that this would be a rather lacking comedy from Richard Linklater and was pleasantly surprised to find a well written drama played out in this rather stagy film. The plot is not really that strong but it doesn't matter because the story is in the characters and their lives; it is a direction that needed good writing and fortunately Bogosian has done a good job of making these characters convincingly real while also turning it into a look at the nature of life in suburbia. It does go to extremes in terms of plot devices and the events of one night but it still works well on both levels. I'm sure not everyone will enjoy the direction it takes but for me it was interesting to et to know the characters and see them change and interact over the course of the night.The cast sounded like a risk on paper but they actually do well and generally give good performances. Ribisi stops his character being a spoilt member of the "whatever" generation and, although he is that, he brings more out as well. Zahn is his usual annoying self but this time it is intentional and, in that regard I guess he did a good job. Bartok is a bit wishy-washy for his character whereas Katt actually fits pretty well. Support from Naidu, Carey, Posey and the rest is all pretty good and they support the film's focus on character and the look at suburban life for this generation. Linklater tries his best to move the action around and make good use of his locations but the stage roots of the script shows through and it does feel very stiff and stagy for the majority.Overall this is not a perfect film but it is much more interesting and engaging than I expected it to be. The characters may not be to everyone's liking (which will be a problem for many viewers) but they are still well written and well delivered by the mixed cast. Worth seeing and I'm glad I took the risk.

Well written by Eric Bogosian, but the ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It seems that the moral of this film is to stab your friends in the back and to sell out to succeed in life.Nicky Katt's Tim is my favorite character in cinema history. He brilliantly portrayed an ex-soldier with gallons of hatred stored up inside. I saw a lot of myself in that character, and it was quite a wakeup call.The actor's did a great job, especially Katt, Giovanni Ribisi and Ajay Naidu. I couldn't stand Amie Carey's character, and applauded Nicky Katt every time he told her off. This is the best film for the Gen-X crowd ever made, as Bogosian perfectly creates these youthful characters who are too old to be young and too young to be old. I find myself reciting Giovanni's rants on society often.I highly recommend this film, but the ending may disappoint you.

There are 72 comments for this movie so I guess this will be 73. It's 1:46 am and I'm really tired so I'm not going to read anymore. I was compelled to open the laptop as the credits rolled; WOW: I wanted to know more.... I read 8 comments; the first 7 were favorable and then there was number 8. It wasn't, so I was inspired to leave this comment to bring the curve up: This movie was very, very well done. The acting was unbelievably good. In fact, I don't believe it was acting. The girl tap dancing and that drunk guy. No way. He really was drunk. That girl really does want to move to NY. This was a true story. Either that or the writer, director, and actors have created something so close to real life that, well, . Let's put it this way. This movie isn't a painting. It's a high resolution photograph. It played well for me since I'm asking myself the questions it raised; this movie may not please a real life upper middle class girl from Bel-Air, but it might.