Word: leleina
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1994-1994
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
This episode works as a handy model for the rest of the film, because, in terms of depth of insight into "Generation X" (if there even is such a thing), it becomes hard to tell the difference among Leleina's original documentary, the In Your Face TV version, and "Reality Bites" as a whole. In each case, there is the unexamined assertion that our generation can be defined by a list of trendy issues...
...least one pressing "issue." Vicki (Janeane Garofalo) works at the Gap and is scared that she has AIDS. Sammy is gay and about to come out to his mom. Troy (Ethan Hawke) is in an alternative band called Hey, That's My Bike. Michael is an ambivalent corporate climber. Leleina looks for a job at a fast-food restaurant after losing her internship at a moronic TV show. All the characters seem to have divorced parents and a deep emotional attachment to some aspect of pop culture...
...fleshing their characters out into funny, believable people. Stiller's Michael could have easily been a weasel, but his technological ineptitude (he still doesn't quite have the knack of driving while talking on the cellular phone), his sense of humor, and the feeling that he really cares for Leleina, make him into a nice, normal...
Nonetheless, the only evidence of Troy's intelligence is that he is always reading books with the word "being" in the title and that he knows the definition of "irony." The hippest pop culture reference he can muster is when Leleina doesn't want him to move into her apartment and he replies, "What, is Mr. Roper gonna show up?" Any character aspiring to be the defining figure of my generation should be held to a much more sophisticated standard of involvement with the "Three's Company" lexicon...
...pretense to generational relevance aside, at its core, "Reality Bites" is basically a standard love triangle story, in which Leleina has to choose between the more stable Michael and the less stable Troy. It's kind of like "The Piano," except Ben Stiller is a lot funnier than Sam Neill and Ethan Hawke doesn't have any visible tattos...