Kicking and Screaming
Director: Noah Baumbach
Year Released: 1995
Rating: 3.0
WASP-y post-grads wander around in a funk, not sure how to start their 'real lives' and choosing stasis instead - as someone who spent his own graduation night crying himself to sleep (how I wish I was joking), I can only say: yes, white kids, I sympathize. When I first saw this I was still in high school and had no idea how truthful it was - or realized how depressing it actually is (if you think about it, most of the characters at the end of this are all still 'lost') - and took away from it memories of the off-kilter performances by Carlos Jacott and snide-and-loving-it Chris Eigeman. Years later, it's still smart and affecting - if more than a wee-bit self-conscious and witty-to-a-fault - and it's a shame that Baumbach didn't do much film work between this and The Squid and the Whale. I always thought this was one of the under-seen, under-appreciated gems of the 90's - now Criterion confirmed it.
