How sad is this?

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Being that I was seventeen and in my twilight years in high school, I watch "Reality Bites" as a friendly wake-up call to the stuff that's going to affect me in the years ahead. Prior to this movie, ambition was running through my veins as fear and doubt about my future was in tow. As the days of graduation was upon me, I knew I needed some movie that might inspire me to be the very best I could be in whatever endeavours that comes upon me. The scene that hit me the most was when aspiring filmmaker Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) thought that she had her life mapped out by the time she was 23, while her floundering but compassionate boyfriend Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke) consoles to her sentiments by saying in a nutshell that you should just be yourself at 23. Those words were both poetic and hypnotic.We're first introduced to Leliana, Troy, Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo) and Sammy Gray (Steve Zahn) chilling on a rooftop in downtown Houston, Texas, celebrating with a few beers after graduating from college, while Alice Cooper's classic rocker "School's Out For Summer" is heard in the background. Leliana decides the perfect time to capture the four on film to discuss their plans for the future. Sammy just wants to find a career, Vickie who works at the Gap just wants to memorize her social security number at full speed and Troy who's been working minimum wage jobs is a few credits short of obtaining his philosophy degree doesn't feel the necessity of finishing it off.From the camerawork of Leliana's opaque surroundings, the characters go on their journeys to explore the many avenues of post-graduate life as the film takes off from there. Troy gets a job at a convenience store only to get fired shortly after stealing a candy bar. He eventually moves into the Maxi Pad with Leliana and Vickie with the sexual urges between Leliana and Troy becoming more prominent while sharing moments of bickering and flirting. Leliana's filming career gets a head-start when she gets hired by an executive named Michael Grates (Ben Stiller) who works at a MTV like station.Leliana gets fired from her job as a production assistant for feeding subjective cue cards to her boss which then finds the young hopeful's dream severely crushed as she's sulking on the living room couch and having phone charges of $300 for phoning a psychic. At this time I was hoping her external problems can be rejuvenated with a metaphoric angel coming her way to deliver the message of hope. Well that metaphoric angel was Michael as he showed her documentary to the upper echelons of his network and they want to buy the footage.Excited, she attends the premiere of her documentary only to be shocked that it had been tweaked from a film about the struggling life of Generation X to a Reality Show based program with her friends being reduced to individual segments of their lives, from the apathetic rebel, to the sex-crazed party girl, the ambitious overachiever to the token gay guy. Lelaina cries her way home only to find Troy alone in the apartment. Their on-again off again relationship finally settles and they end up sleeping with each other.The romantic pity sex these two friends encounter is summed up with a series of tranquil moments of peace and serenity. But then out of left field, Troy leaves her which causes a bit of a rift as she was trying to get her life back together again. After a nasty breakup, Troy goes back to Chicago to visit his dying father which Lelaina didn't know. He eventually returned to her yard a she was trying to find him in hopes to reconcile their friendship.The thing about "Reality Bites" that strikes me harder than a thunderbolt, is that not all broken relationships can be repaired. After an abrupt breakup, my girlfriend moved away and we lost contact forever without a reason or explanation. Not that I wouldn't be heartbroken if an explanation or a Dear John letter would be sufficient, but it would have some disclosure and I would move forward with my life. At least Troy did make amends with Lelaina and came back into her life.What sickens me the most is that why was Troy the inevitable puzzle piece for Lelaina? I'm okay with the happy ending and all sure and the message of love being the glue to moments of insecurity and to take the important stuff of where we go from here. But it's still to me just a lot of hyperbole to the max. My envy for Lelaina made me wish our worlds were reversed. Troy didn't hold up to his compromises, only time will tell. Don't expect his car to pull up on your driveway.

Reality Bites is a movie I can currently relate with, as I have been recently suffering through post-college trauma. The movie has such a relatable premise, but I feel it could have been just a little better. But watching the movie provided me with the feeling that I am not alone in this ordeal. The movie was written pretty well and this is Ben Stiller's directorial debut, so a movie like this is not a bad way to begin a directing career.Stiller's film is about a TV production assistant named Lelaina who is creating a documentary about post-grad life with her three friends: Troy who is a philosophical unemployed slacker, Vicki who is the manager of Gap, and Sammy who is trying to find his sexuality. When she meets Michael, an executive at an MTV-like studio, there is a chance her documentary can now go public. The film is reasonably acted. Winona Ryder does a pretty good job as Lelaina, even if she seems a little whiny. I liked Ethan Hawke's character as his philosophy reminded of his character in the Before Sunrise series. Ben Stiller had a limited role, but he did a solid job. I also like Steve Zahn as the man trying to find out who he is. Overall, Reality Bites is a decent movie because mainly it has a theme that people my age can relate to. The path to show this theme may not work as effective, but the movie was still mostly entertaining. I will say that the documentary shots got a little annoying at times, but the narrative itself is quite good. My Grade: B

Watching cable today, I caught the last 30 mins of Reality Bites starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Janene Garolfo. Is it me?? Does the entire scene were Michael returns to offer Lelaina some work & Troy makes it OBVIOUS he & Lel is INVOLVED remind U of Prince's film PURPLE RAIN ??? Especially when Troy jumps on stage & begin to expose their sexual exploits causing Lelaina to FLEE from the venue! Remember Prince singing "Darling Nikki" & Appolonia running out of the club?!! This whole scene was literally SNATCHED from Purple Rain. Stiller & Childress ... DO U HAVE NO SHAME ? In their defense, this film certainly lives up to its title! Incidentally . . . the outside camera shot of the venue looks a lot like the music club from Purple Rain too. SMH.

See, I'm a product of the 1990s. Most of my friends/peers that are of my age believe their "decade" of choice is the 1980s. But, my heart belongs in the 1990s.I loved the music better. I came out. I learned about life in and around college. I traveled a lot and expanded my horizons tremendously. This didn't come without a price – one I would surely pay in the double naughts. (I'm sure those who "had fun" in the 1960s felt the same in the following disco decade.)That all said, it was thoroughly refreshing to revisit Reality Bites, the quintessential 1990s movie. Okay, I would include Clueless into that genre, but that's another viewing/review. It had the independence feel, the snappy and intelligent dialogue, the product placement (oh, that was abundant and to think we thought the 1980s people were materialistic…) and the grunge look. Heck, we see the (NBC's) Friends characters who can live comfortably in the big city, in a nice apartment, without so much a job nor two nickels to rub together. I would LOVE to live and breathe so comfortably without employment as these young adults lived in decades past.But, I digress. This movie was wonderful. It had an excellent soundtrack and fantastic acting. Though Hawke and Ryder were both perfect, I always love seeing Garofalo and truly loved seeing all the "future" (to 1994's Reality Bites) secondary actors get some screen-time. Such as Spade, Stiller, Zahn, Zellweger and (Andy) Dick.Basically the movie revolves around slackers Lelaina (Ryder) and Troy (Hawke) who inadvertently become roommates, along with best bud, Gap-Manager Vickie (Garofalo.) It's obvious that Lelaina and Troy need to be together, but after a chance meeting between Lelaina and Michael (Stiller) the tension rises.Throw in a few subplots, involving the topic of the moment: AIDS and gays coming out, you have a very well-thought out, WAY before its time film. Forgive me – no, take that back, I make no apologies for my reviews or opinions – but I would compare this "independent/reality show" movie to Citizen Kane. Both movies had great ideas, presented them, and though neither took off at the time, both were looked back upon as "experiments" that would show up dozens of times in the far future. Survivor, anyone? How about The Blair Witch Project's hand-held cameras held by amateur filmmakers?I first saw Reality Bites immediately when it arrived in theatres in 1994 and liked it a lot. I made a decision to see it again, since I liked it then and it defined my 20's (actually, I just turned 20 at that point) but I never got around to it…until now, 16 years later after someone recommended it after viewing my site. I am SO glad he did. I might never have seen this fantastic movie again.I remembered a lot of the wonderful dialogue – and I could even still quote it: "Would the two of you just do it and get it over with? I'm starving!" and "If I could bottle the sexual tension between Bonnie Franklin and Schneider, I could solve the energy crisis," and loved the many, many references, including Melrose Place. Furthermore, I did purchase the soundtrack and fell madly in love with all the tracks, but mainly: "My Sharona" and "Stay (I Missed You.)"For anyone who hasn't previously seen this movie, again, like Clueless, it might be hard to watch now as it might appear "dated." But truly, the dialogue, love story – boy it still makes me choke up in the closing, and references are still fresh today. And that makes this a must see for 1990s lovers and anyone who's young, finding themselves and need to believe in dreams.Side Note: The "edited" version of Lelaina's video was really…not that bad. I believe she completely overreacted, but that's not what the character Ryder played wanted. So, to move the story along, I guess we just have to accept it was a bad product, when in "reality," she needs to lighten up. On a positive note, it did lead her to make the true (and painfully obvious) romantic choice.